It seems that our point of contact GP and health service are slowly being sold to an American Health Insurance Giant called Centene.
This is quite a worrying situation as if this is done wholesale then we will in the end see a time where we are paying to see the GP, and where 70 plus years of the NHS will be destroyed by greed. There were previous discussions with regards to paying a £10 to £20 fee to see your GP and the hue and cry brought on by that made sure this was put on the back burner, but now we have the direct interference by an American Insurance Firm.
The privatisation of the NHS through the back door is disgraceful and this should cease immediately .The NHS is free at source and should remain so. It is typical of American Corporate greed to make a profit out of the pain and suffering of people they are morally bankrupt and this government should be held to account for failing to stop this. All of those areas of the NHS that have been privatised should be taken back into public ownership as soon as is practically possible and no compensation as those greedy businessmen have had enough of our money.
US health insurance giant, Centene, through its UK subsidiary, Operose Health, has been taking over GP surgeries and practices in London and across the country for many years. Centene has recently taken over AT Medics, a primary care provider responsible for 49 GP surgeries and over 370,000 patients in the Greater London area. With a total of 70 GP surgeries and practices, Centene is almost certainly the largest single provider of NHS primary care in England. https://weownit.org.uk/blog/here-are-gp-practices-taken-over-us-health-insurance-giant-centene
This is never a good thing for the people when greedy corporate bodies get involved and even the Daily Mail accused this company of being greedy.
Today, one in four is a ‘super-practice’ with more than 10,000 patients on its books, and the proportion of surgeries with such list sizes has risen by 27 per cent since 2013, but that isn’t the only way in which general practice has changed in Britain, because Osler House wasn’t run by a local GP or a partnership of doctors, but by a private company.
Called The Practice Group (TPG), this company is responsible for some 50 GP practices and healthcare centres, providing more than a million appointments each year for 200,000 patients across the country.
Residents who attended a local surgery called Osler House were informed that their surgery is shutting. There were no reasons given and the patients have had to find a GP Practice elsewhere. The company states that the contract had come to end with the NHS but in reality the GP practice was just not procuring enough profit for Centene. In 2016, the company was paid almost £30 million by the NHS for its services. And yet the reason it gave for pulling out of the contract with Osler House was it was not profitable enough.
That it was no longer ‘financially viable’ for it to run it is obscene as there are unwell people involved here. Nor is this the first time that The Practice Group has pulled the plug on GP surgeries because it was not being paid enough. Which is, perhaps, all the more surprising because TPG is, in turn, majority-owned by a hugely wealthy health insurance company based 4,000 miles from Harlow in St Louis, Missouri.
Called the Centene Corporation, its motto is ‘Better health outcomes at lower costs’. It’s a corporate behemoth, it raked in $27.7 billion in 2020 total with the chief executive pocketing a$25 million in 2020. This is pure greed and the list of private GP surgeries are listed below:
Birmingham
Birmingham Urgent Treatment Centre
Lower Ground Floor, Boots The Chemists Ltd, 66 High Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B4 7TA
The Practice Old Hill
Priest House Ground Floor, Priest Street, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, B64 6JN
Doncaster
The Flying Scotsman Health Centre
St Sepulchre Gate W, Doncaster DN1 3AP
Essex
The Practice Leecon & Hawkwell
1 Leecon Way, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1TU
Great Missenden
The Practice Prospect House
108 High St, Great Missenden HP16 0BG
Leeds
The Practice Harehills Corner
209 Roundhay Road, Harehills, Leeds LS8 4HQ
The Practice Lincoln Green
Burmantofts Health Centre, Cromwell Mount, Leeds LS9 7TA
Luton
Bramingham Park Medical Centre
Lucas Gardens, Barton Hills, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU3 4BG
Kingsway Health Centre
385 Dunstable Rd, Maidenhall, Luton LU4 8BY
Milton Keynes
Brooklands Health Centre
Montague Cres, Broughton, Milton Keynes MK10 7LN
Newport Pagnell
Kingfisher Surgery
26 Elthorne Way, Newport Pagnell MK16 0JR
Nottingham
Balderton Primary Care Centre
Lowfield Lane, Balderton, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 3HJ
Broad Oak Medical Practice
116 Strelley Road, Nottingham, NG8 6LN
Kirkby Community Primary Care Centre
Ashfield Health & Wellbeing Centre, Portland St, Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottingham NG17 7AE
Southglade Medical Practice
Southglade Rd, Nottingham NG5 5GU
The Practice St Albans & Nirmala
112 Pedmore Valley, Nottingham NG5 5NN
Southend-on-Sea
The Practice Northumberland Avenue
32 Northumberland Ave, Southend-on-Sea SS1 2TH
Watford
The Pathfinder Practice
South West Herts Health Centre, Oxhey Dr, South Oxhey, Watford WD19 7SF
London
Albert Road Surgery
76 Albert Road, North Woolwich, London E16 2DY
Bank House Surgery
84 High Street, Farnborough, BR6 7BA
Barlby Surgery
Exmoor Street, W10 6DZ
Britannia Village Surgery
12a Wesley Avenue, London, E16 1TU
Brunswick Medical Centre
39 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AF
Burnley Medical Practice
Willesden Centre For Health, Robson Avenue, NW10 3RY
Camden Health Improvement Practice
The Margarete Centre, 108 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2LS
Canberra Old Oak Surgery
56 Bloemfontein Road, London, W12 7FG
Carpenters Practice
236-252 High Street, Stratford, E15 2JA
Cassidy Medical Centre
651a Fulham Road, SW6 5PX
Church Road Practice
The Centre Manor Park, 30 Church Road, Manor Park, E12 6AQ
Earls Court Health and Wellbeing Centre
2b Hogarth Road, London, SW5 0PT
East One Health (now changed to Goodman’s Fields Health Centre)
14 Deancross Street, E1 2QA (now at 11 Stable Walk, E1 8ZF, London)
Edith Cavell Surgery
41 A-C Streatham Hill, London, SW2 4TP
Falmouth Road Group Practice
78 Falmouth Road, Borough, SE1 4JW
Fieldway Medical Centre
15a Danebury, CR0 9EU
GP Hub Brondesbury
279 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JQ
GP Hub Caversham
4 Peckwater Street, NW5 2UP
GP Hub Central Croydon
East Croydon Medical Centre, 59 Addiscombe Road, CR0 6SD
GP Hub Parkway
Parkway Health Centre, Parkway, New Addington, CR0 0JA
GP Hub Purley
Purley War Memorial Hospital, 856 Brighton Road, CR8 2YL
GP Hub Somers Town
77-83 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1HY
GP Hub Swiss Cottage
2 Winchester Mews, NW3 3NP
Hanley Primary Care Centre
51 Hanley Road, London, N4 3DU
Headley Drive Surgery
117a Headley Drive, CR0 0QL
Kings Cross Surgery
The Bloomsbury Building, St. Pancras Hospital, NW1 0PE
Kings Road Medical Centre
529 Kings Road, SW10 0UD
Lucas Avenue Practice
1A Lucas Ave, London, E13 0QP
Mitchison Road Surgery
2 Mitchison Road, London, N1 3NG
Mollison Way Surgery
45c-46 South Parade, Mollison Way, Edgware, HA8 5QL
Parkway Health Centre
Parkway, CR0 0JA
Queens Road Surgery
136 Meeting House Lane, SE15 2UA
Silverlock Medical Centre
2 Verney Way, London, SE16 3HA
Somers Town Medical Centre
77-83 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1HY
St Ann’s Road Surgery
Laurels Healthy Living Centre, 256 St Ann’s Road, Tottenham, N15 5AZ
St Luke’s Practice
2 St Luke’s Square, Canning Town, E16 1HT
Streatham High Practice
1st Floor, 2-8 Gracefield Gardens, SW16 2ST
Streatham Place Surgery
26-28 Streatham Place, London, SW2 4QY
Thamesmead Health Centre
4-5 Thames Reach, Thamesmead, London, SE28 0NY
The Lister Practice
101 Peckham Road, SE15 5LJ
The Loxford Practice
417 Ilford Lane, Ilford, Essex, IG1 2SN
The Practice Beacon Medical Centre
The Garden Room at the Lighthouse, 111-117 Lancaster Rd, Ladbroke Grove, London W11 1QT
The Practice Furzedown
88e Eardley Rd, London SW16 6BL
The Practice John Smith Medical Centre
145 Bevan Ave, Barking IG11 9NS
The Randolph Surgery
235a Elgin Avenue, W9 1NH
Thornton Road Surgery
299 Thornton Road, CR0 3EW
Trowbridge Surgery
18 Merriam Avenue, London, E9 5NE
Valley Park Surgery
Healthy Living Centre, Franklin Way, CR0 4YD
Wembley Practice
116 Chaplin Road, Wembley, HA0 4UZ
Whitechapel Health Centre (now changed to Goodman’s Fields Health Centre)
Shah Jalal Medical Centre, 44 Hessel Street, E1 2LP (now at 11 Stable Walk, E1 8ZF, London)
Victoria Medical
1 Queens Road, Barking, Essex, IG11 8GD
Comments
jim gault replied on Wed 24 Feb 2021 Permalink
Most people in Britain today can’t imagine having to pay for treatment, but for my parents generation it was commonplace for families to be unable to afford medical help. People suffered painful illness all the time. Imagine watching one of your children suffering because you couldn’t afford the doctors bills. That’s how it was until 1949….. and that’s what this government has planned for us when they’ve sold our health service to the highest bidder. It’s already well on it’s way.
P barrett replied on Wed 24 Feb 2021 Permalink
The privatisation of the NHS through the back door is disgraceful this should cease immediately .The NHS is free at source should remain so. It is typical of the Americans to make a profit out of the pain and suffering of people they are morally bankrupt and this government Should be held to account.All of the those areas of the NHS that have been privatised should be taken back into public ownership as soon as is practically possible.
Jean Davis replied on Sun 28 Feb 2021 Permalink
I agree people pay NI out of wages for NHS and have done for about 70 years keep it as is…
Patrick Lilley replied on Tue 16 Mar 2021 Permalink
NHS funding (approx. 80%) from general taxation… the govt recently starting taking more from NI
Michael Coleman replied on Mon 15 Mar 2021 Permalink
Jim, you’re wrong about the highest bidder, bungling Boris and his gangsters don’t really understand money (we give them so much of it – and expenses) they just want to sell our NHS to anyone, so that the working class will suffer; just the old days when the poor went to the workhouse!
When our Government is bleating that the NHS needs more money and raising the National Insurance on working people to cover it, we have to ask ourselves who will be the main beneficiaries of this? Which Government minister has turned a blind eye to the creeping privatisation of our GP surgeries, and who is the one going through the legal minefield of allowing a company who has no understanding of what free at the point of contact means? Something stinks here….rotten to the core.
This is the start of expecting the British public to have insurance for our medical needs pretty much along the lines of BUPA and no doubt more expensive. What about those who already have medical conditions? Will they be charged more for their policies?
This is a worrying situation that will only get worse for us. Wonder which MP or Government Minister will champion this. After all look at how their friends, families and chums made millions out of the PPE contracts scandal and there will only ever be one winner…their greedy pockets.
We are currently experiencing a very lack lustre approach to actually getting into the GP. I have read case after case where people just cannot get hold of theirs and where they have been dismissed for what GPs class as “minor” issues, only for that to become Cancer. There have been dozens of people who have been given a death sentence because of the no rush policy in seeing patients.
We cannot allow rich people to get even richer based on our illnesses, and our needs to see the GP. Treating the illness of those who need to see the GP must not be available at a cost that will see most of us priced out of.
The NHS was created for the British people to access on a needs must basis and certainly not on how much you can pay. I have been down the private route once for my mother and never again. She needed a bypass and just getting the specialist to agree cost me almost £2,000. Then there was the actual cost of the operation which came out at the princely sum of almost £6,000, and then the bed, the admin…the list was just endless and kept getting higher and higher.
How many people who are working class can access that sort of money? If you are already unwell then BUPA or the other private medical health carers will happily insure you but not the area that you have a medical problem with, and can you imagine how distraught those who are unwell will be if they have to take out loans because their forced through insurance won’t pay for their needs? This is what will happen if we don’t take a stance and say no, otherwise you will have people dying because they cannot access that which was free for a long time.
We need to demand the Government stop this creeping privatisation and if necessary if we all should refuse to get insurance then what profit will there be in this company if that is the way ahead? Currently they are referring us to private companies for our health and this is costing the NHS far more than waiting to see a NHS specialist and the Government needs to stop this.
I needed to discuss my back and was totally put off waiting for the NHS to contact me and kept getting told that the private practice will see me quicker. All paid for by the NHS. I spoke to them on the phone and how disappointing but the price for them wasn’t and it took less than 5 minutes but the cost….., and in the end I went back to the NHS and told the GP to never do that again as it was a waste of my time as they offered nothing, despite my needing urgent help on my back. The NHS consultant saw me and got me help…. This was just an excuse to print money for those who had an interest in private practices.
This is where our money is going, the money that should be for the NHS…it is going into the pockets of greedy GPs, greedy MPs and greedy corporate monsters who are there for nothing more than to make money from your illnesses. They don’t care….they just want access to our National Insurance contributions and this is a slippery slope down and needs knocking on the head NOW.
Points of Sue 