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Article

13 Mar 2024

Author:
By David Rowland, The Guardian (UK)

UK: Transferring ownership of publicly owned hospitals into for-profit sector may come at the expense of care quality, amidst rising private equity investment

“Investors are making a fortune from UK healthcare. Why is nobody holding private equity to account?”

If you are in a vulnerable situation in the UK because of your age, personal circumstances, violent crime or ill health, there is a strong chance that somebody somewhere – most likely an offshore private equity investor – will be making a profit out of your health and care.

In the case of older people needing care towards the end of their life, companies backed by private equity funds have been generating significant returns for decades…

…More than 80% of residential care homes for children are provided on a for-profit basis…

…more than half of the people seen in the NHS-funded Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) are treated by two companies owned by private equity investors…

…the returns generated by such companies are very…

…Much of this outsourcing has taken place on the quiet…

…some of our major healthcare providers are now owned in whole or in part by the sovereign wealth funds of the Chinese Communist party (in the case of the private cancer care provider GenesisCare, which has a growing presence in the UK) or the United Arab Emirates (in the case of Circle, the largest operator of private hospitals in England). …