The biggest healthcare company in the world which funded Mitt Romney’s presidential election campaign is reported to be expanding into the UK’s NHS.
HCA International Ltd has a UK branch based in London and has been steadily developing this side of its business ever since the Health & Social Care Act was passed by the UK parliament last year.
With healthcare insurance set to radically grow in Britain over the coming years, HCA believes the time is right to expand its provision.
HCA currently runs two of the country’s most notable private clinics in Britain namely Harley Street Clinic and Portland Hospital.
Interestingly, HCA has forged links with University College Hospital London (UCH), Queen’s Hospital in Romford, Essex, and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester to form a joint NHS venture.
Queen’s has been renting wards to HCA since 2010, and is planning to offer more space to the American company.
The Health & Social Care Act is a very controversial piece of legislation that many people both internal and external of the medical profession believe has just one aim – to privatise the NHS.
The government denies this, but others will see that HCA’s further involvement in NHS hospitals is a step closer to the end of a free NHS and the furtherance introduction of private health insurance.
The value of private healthcare in the NHS is said to have grown by 5.3% since 2011 to £471 million. The previous year it was £448 million.