Published
NHS employment has been gradually shifting for a long time. Support staff such as hotel services and portering have been in private hands for a long time. Every couple of years a new company wins the contract, keeps the same staff, give them new uniforms, and messes with their pension just like the company before them.
A growing number of clinical services have also been farmed out. A lot of A&E and walk-in centers are now run by a company calle Care UK, who have roles that were previously the domain of NHS nurses.
Foreign ownership was always going to happen, its a last ditch attempt to hold it altogether. I know I've said it here before, but from where I was, in a London ER, changes within the NHS are nothing more than re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic !
XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN
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Interesting article in the Guardian today
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/03/shirley-williams-nhs-reforms-turmoil