Thames Water impending collapse is ultimate result of privatisation, say campaigners
THAMES WATER’S impending collapse is the ultimate result of privatising an essential monopoly like water, campaigners said today..
The government is reportedly approaching potential administrators to step in if the troubled utility falls into bankruptcy.
The water giant is struggling under a debt of £19 billion and has warned that it will run out of cash in March unless the High Court signs off a £3bn loan at a hearing next month.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed ruled out nationalisation in October.
But officials have told the Financial Times that the government has spoken to consultancies including Teneo and Interpath to potentially run a special administration regime (SAR) — a temporary measure designed to keep services running.
The measure could be a sign that ministers are bracing themselves for the renationalisation of the company as the court could block the loan agreement due to a high interest rate of 9.75 per cent alongside fees and incentives of the current Thames Water management.
Last month, regulator Ofwat fined the company £18.2 million for paying £158.3m in dividends to shareholders which it said were not justified.
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|Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thames-water-impending-collapse-ultimate-result-privatisation-say-campaigners
Hospital patients dying undiscovered in corridors, report on NHS reveals
Royal College of Nursing says people ‘routinely coming to harm’ with vital equipment not available and staff too busy
Patients are dying in hospital corridors and going undiscovered for hours, while others who suffer heart attacks cannot be given CPR because of overcrowding in walkways, a bombshell report on the state of the NHS has revealed.
So many patients are being cared for in hospital corridors across the UK that in some cases pregnant women are having miscarriages outside wards while other patients are unable to call for help because they have no call bell and are subjected to “animal-like conditions”, said the Royal College of Nursing.
The RCN warned that patients were “routinely coming to harm” and in some cases dying because vital equipment was not available and staff were too busy to give everyone adequate care.
Dr Adrian Boyle, the leader of Britain’s A&E doctors, said the nurses’ testimonies on which the report was based were so horrendous that it “must be a watershed moment, a line in the sand” and must prompt the government to redouble its efforts to get the NHS working properly again.
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London hospital advertises for ‘corridor care’ nurses
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/london-hospital-advertises-for-corridor-care-nurses
Royal College of Emergency Medicine says advertisement is ‘normalising’ patients being treated in the corridors
A LONDON hospital has advertising for “corridor care” nurses because so many A&E patients are being cared for while waiting for beds or treatment.
The 12-hour shifts were advertised by Whittington hospital in north London.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said the advertisement indicated the “normalising” of patients being treated in the corridors of hospital A&E departments.
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Retired paediatrician Dr John Puntis, co-chair of campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: “There can be no bleaker illustration of the current state of the NHS than ‘care’ delivered in corridors.
“Winter pressures on an already overstretched service were entirely predictable.
“Six months in power and Labour has done nothing pro-active to alleviate this situation.”
He accused the government of instead “throwing money at the private sector.”
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/london-hospital-advertises-for-corridor-care-nurses
Keir Starmer needs reminding that the NHS is not for sale
As the government unveils its plans for NHS patients to be treated privately in a bid to cut the waiting list backlog, former Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn says this administration is repeating the mistakes of the last
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During the general election, I stood on a platform that pledged to defend a fully public, fully funded healthcare system. We knew Labour’s decision to drop its previously held manifesto promise that “the NHS is not for sale” was no accident. We said the future of our NHS was on the line – and we were right.
This week, the government announced that private operators will receive an extra £2.5bn a year in government funding. Under their plans, the role of the private sector in providing outpatient appointments will rise by 20 per cent. Meanwhile, the secretary of state for health, Wes Streeting, refuses to rule out the involvement of the private sector in a reformed care service – a refusal he will no doubt maintain for the next four years until elderly and disabled people are finally allowed to hear his plans.
To the prime minister and health secretary, welcoming privatisation is proof of their commitment to pragmatism. “We will not let ideology… stand in the way.” To anyone who knows the reality of privatisation, their dogmatic refusal to look at the evidence is the very definition of ideology itself.
A privatised health service leads to worse quality care, higher mortality rates and a reduction in staffing. Privatisation has even been linked to higher rates of patient infections, in part because cleaning staff are typically the first to be cut in the name of efficiency. There is only one beneficiary of privatisation: investors and shareholders making money out of people’s ill health.
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