26.11.10
The shape of things to come?
The delivery of NHS services at Hinchingbrooke Hospital is to be taken over by Circle, an ‘employee-owned social enterprise’ in which everyone from the consultants to the cleaners are co-owners in the business.
Their track record in turning round NHS services by empowering front-line employees looks impressive. Their NHS day-surgery hospitals in Nottingham and Burton delivered over 20% productivity gains in their first year of Circle operation, at the same time as improving patient outcomes to four times better than the national benchmark, patient satisfaction to 99.4% and staff satisfaction to 91%.
Whether or not this is privatization by the back door only time will tell.
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