West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Published:17 April 2009
NHS profit and loss
• AS if we are not already sufficiently demoralised by the calamitous mishandling of the economy by national and local officials and representatives, NHS London has now decided, with faultless timing, to hand over yet another £144million (Anger as private company wins contract to run an NHS centre, April 10).
Like doomed sailors clinging to a sinking wreck, our glorious leaders continue to be hypnotised by the corroded 1980s “business” ethos which declares that private involvement in public services improves efficiency and saves money, long after it has become brutally obvious that it has precisely the reverse effect and that the only people who ever benefit from these arrangements are the directors and shareholders of these companies.
If we want public services we must pay for them (or not). They can never turn a profit and it is simply stupid to pretend that they can. Martin Kennedy
Brewer Street, W1
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