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Fifth of coalition MPs have links to private healthcare firms

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g6982 (Published 19 November 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g6982
  1. Adrian O’Dowd
  1. 1London

A trade union has accused 71 MPs in the United Kingdom’s coalition government of benefiting from a growing role for the private sector in providing NHS services.

The union Unite published a report on 18 November in which it listed 64 Conservative and seven Liberal Democrat MPs as having links to private healthcare interests, including the prime minister, David Cameron, and the health secretary for England, Jeremy Hunt.1

Unite said that this showed that these MPs were linked to companies or individuals who were seeking to profit from the reorganisation of the NHS brought about by the Health and Social Care Act, which came into force last year and which created a legal mechanism to force healthcare commissioners to put NHS services out to tender from any source, including the private and independent sectors.

The report does not say that any politicians or donors acted illegally, and the Conservative and Liberal …

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