As the Governments' attempt to dismantle the NHS in favour of ever increasing private sector initiatives gathers pace, it has been revealed by the Healthcare Commission that as many as one in five elective knee & hip replacements are bungled by ISTCs and have to be repaired by NHS centres according to The Times. The commission feels that these independent centres are breaking their contractual obligations by not reporting the exact outcomes of the procedures they perform.

These independent centres are privately run, with profits going directly to shareholders, yet they are publicly funded with tax payer money. These centres have only managed to fulfil 59% of their contracted procedures, £16m  paid to Capio (private provider) last year for a single Oxfordshire treatment centre that did not open on time.

At a time when Ms Hewitt has forced NHS trusts to cut staff & services, it is quite ridiculous that she & the Government can justify handing out money that would had gone to shore up ailing trusts, as these ISTCs only account for 10% of all elective procedures. Ms Hewitt should consider whether these private sector facilities are safe before giving them multi million pound contracts, as 11 out of 21 centres were found to fail at least some of the 32 minimum safety standards in inspections by the Healthcare Commission last year.

Botched Operations At Private Clinics