Private company could be given go-ahead to run hospital

The George Eliot Hospital in Warwickshire, one of the eleven trusts placed in special measures in the aftermath of Sir Bruce Keogh’s review, could be franchised to an independent provider, according to board papers published by the NHS Trust Development Authority (NHS TDA). The paper states that the Trust would be unable to gain Foundation Trust status “in its current form”, and proposes that “an open procurement should take place in order to test a wide range of innovative proposals from both NHS and Independent Sector providers”. The decision has been criticised by Andy Burnham, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, who described it as “privatisation driven from the top”.

Guardian