Hospital to Privatise Surgery

Kingston hospital in south-west London is considering employing a private company to carry out all its elective surgery, it has been revealed.

The pressure group London Health Emergency (LHE) is calling on Health Secretary Alan Johnson to intervene in what it describes as "an unprecedented experiment in NHS privatisation which would take commercial firms further deeper into the heart of the NHS".

Kingston hospital is said to have claimed that the move is in line with the findings of Professor Darzi's report into London's NHS. But the LHE said Darzi made no reference to the wholesale privatisation of elective surgery. Moreover, it said the move is contrary to assurances from Gordon Brown and Johnson that they are easing off the pace of private sector involvement in the NHS.

Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at LHE, said: "The plans by Kingston Hospital to bring a commercial, profit-driven company right into the heart of the NHS to run all routine surgery is unprecedented and would give that company enormous leverage to launch a takeover bid to run the whole hospital. This is NHS privatisation on a scale we have never seen before."

Health Insurance Magazine: 09 August 2007