Published 27 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4294
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4294

Feature

NHS

An eye on profit

Jonathan Gornall, freelance journalist

1 London

Jgornall@mac.com

With its income from private patients approaching government limits, Moorfields is one of the foundation trusts hoping that the recently announced review will lead to relaxed rules. Jonathan Gornall reports

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Dubai, sun baked second city of the oil fuelled United Arab Emirates, glitzy home to the world’s tallest building, largest shopping mall, and two gigantic manmade islands created in the shape of stylised palm trees, is an unlikely setting for an ideological battle over the future of the British National Health Service. It is certainly a long way from City Road, London, but here, on the 370 000 m2 campus that is the world’s first medical free-zone—a tax and customs duty-free oasis in which 100% foreign ownership is allowed—can be found a bustling branch of Moorfields Eye Hospital, the first such overseas outpost and example of an entrepreneurial spirit that, depending on viewpoint, could either rescue or ravage the NHS.

Many in the NHS are watching with interest to see how the pioneering Dubai venture pans out; two years in, it has yet to make a profit but is ahead . . . [Full text of this article]


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