Why the NHS is under huge strain is more complex than a public-private system argument. Between 200-2012, the NHS was one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The interplay between austerity, consumer behaviour & culture change in medicine is core. Privatisation won’t address this.

The number of GP practices in England fell from 7,686 in 2015 to 6,359 in 2025, while the number of homes rose by around 2m over the same period As a result, the number of homes served per average GP practice rose from 3,066 in 2015 to 3,976 in 2025.

If you're in Bath or surrounds, please come & support our community protest with NHS staff unions against the outsourcing of essential NHS bank staff to private equity-owned Pulse. 9am Fri 17 July RUH Bath #RobbingTheBank #NHS

If you're in Bath or surrounds, please come & support our community protest with NHS staff unions against the outsourcing of essential NHS bank staff to private equity-owned Pulse. 9am Fri 17 July RUH Bath #RobbingTheBank #NHS

Our call-in request to Health Sec re: BSW ICB's decision to give a 7yr £1.3b contract for #NHS community healthcare to private equity-owned HCRG has finally been answered after 15 mths! The minister's reply does not address the concerns we raised & arrived >1 yr after the ICB awarded the contract 🙄

🚨A national scandal. New analysis reveals the true cost of the government's US pharma deal with Trump: £44.7bn pulled out of the NHS by 2036 and up to 229,000 avoidable deaths, more than Covid. That's why we are taking legal action...🧵 www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

🚨Burnham set to ditch Palantir from NHS We hope that this is true but we need to see concrete commitment and until we have that we won't stop fighting to get Palantir out of the NHS. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

An investigation by OpenDemocracy found that Palantir has paid very little UK tax, despite receiving over £670m in UK public contracts. How? By booking profits overseas, and using tax loopholes for paying staff with stocks to reduce their corporation tax bill.

Yup, private equity owned HCRG has £1.3b #NHS contract for our local community health services. We fought a long hard battle to keep these services delivered by NHS but the corporates won. The Lowdown share.google/qAAQMQ8HckmS...

'More than £5bn of NHS contracts – 10.7% of its external spending – were paid to private equity-backed firms in the last year' www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Farage and Reform UK are not only a danger to the #NHS but to world healthcare systems & cooperation

Seascape by Alison Holt, contemporary textile artist who creates machine and hand embroidered artworks #WomensArt

If I were in government I'd be scoping an announcement to have solar, batteries and air conditioning (heating and cooling) in every school and hospital by 2030

Private equity controls UK dentistry. Initial consultation fee up by 23%, tooth extraction up by 32%. Gross profit at private equity controlled companies rose by 20% year-on-year. Profit margins of 20%-30%. Govts handed dentistry to finance industry. Too many can't afford dental care.

Meanwhile, our local hospitals in Bath, Swindon & Wilts are planning to outsource essential #NHS bank staff to private company Pulse (Bank Partners), owned by private equity interests - shameful move to save money on staff pensions. We're taking action alongside UNISON & a former hospital governor

Wonderful news👏👏👏 The government promised a wave of insourcing. It is good to see them start delivering that. They must commit to this process and build up state capacity to provide services in-house.

Is binning expert correspondents in eastern Europe a good idea at a time like this? Disinformation on the rise, Russia interfering in many countries, threatening several and actually at war with one? Well, BBC News management seems to think so. It's disposing of me and 4 of my colleagues.

'Foxglove said Jones should recuse herself from decision-making related to the upcoming break clause of Palantir’s NHS contract. “It’s worrying that the revolving door between government and the Palantir-led consortium has been operating under the watchdog’s nose”' www.ft.com/content/b8ee...

Wannabe #NHS fixer Jeremy Hunt (former Health Sec, former UK Chancellor)...

AI-powered search tools and chatbots are rapidly becoming routine entry points for political information. Our new report calls for consistent labelling, clear communication of sources, and the introduction of systemic risk management duties.

👥PUBLIC WANT DONATIONS CAP Our new polling today shows 83% of the public think mega donors buy influence over government for their own benefit. And they want it to stop. It's time MPs listen to the voters & end the super rich corrupting our politics with their money. Results in comments ⤵

The family of the Belfast stabbing victim have released a statement saying - like the family of Henry Nowak last week - that the attack should not be used to "divide people or fuel hostility" They condemned disorder and praised the "valuable contribution" by migrants inews.co.uk/news/politic...

"Those who control the health data of entire peoples - often collected under the pretext of aid, research or innovation - possess a structural leverage over the future, for they can shape needs and markets." The *pope* gets it. Why doesn't DHSC? Get Palantir out of the NHS.

The real-life implications for #NHS bank staff of Bath, Swindon & Wilts Hospitals' unfair decision to outsource their service to private firm Pulse, despite objections from UNISON & all Staff Sides: naj562.substack.com/p/the-nhs-pe...

It's been a while since I posted. I have resigned from my job- NHS, Doctor. My 3 decades as a doctor has burnt me out. My patients & colleagues have humbled me with their love & support. Please see my painting on a bigger screen. Both patients and clinicians are suffering💔

@drdavidnicholl.bsky.social & I argue that Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk is entirely within his rights to block the Met Police Palantir deal in our letter in The Times. Not obvious that his critics have read the legislation or understood the highly questionable process used here.

Private firms hoovering up many NHS resources. NHS Trusts & ICBs seek short-term £savings but get long-term NHS loss in terms of skilled healthcare staff & loss of control/public accountability. Our local hospitals plan to outsource their dedicated bank staff service to save on pensions: shameful

Privatisation of the NHS NHS spends record £241m outsourcing scan analysis to private firms. Private sector focused on profit, not service. Money buys less. Public purse depleted. NHS capacity not expanded. Why would it train staff? There is no public mandate for privatisation of the NHS.

The real-life implications for #NHS bank staff of Bath, Swindon & Wilts Hospitals' unfair decision to outsource their service to private firm Pulse, despite objections from UNISON & all Staff Sides: naj562.substack.com/p/the-nhs-pe...

#Glyphosate and #AMR - we are powering up resistance in multiple ways on this #PoisonedPlanet www.earth.com/news/glyphos...

🔴 Wes Streeting has said that Palantir is “absolutely critical to the future of the NHS.” But Palantir’s £330m NHS platform is “slow an clunky” and eight to ten times slower at analysing data than the current NHS tool in use Massive scoop on Democracy for Sale: open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

Following the official declaration of an #Ebola Virus Disease outbreak by the Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 15, 2026, Doctors Without Borders is preparing to rapidly scale up our medical response in Ituri province, in the country’s northeast.

‘Physical activity should be at the heart of the NHS’s support for older people and is as important as providing medication’ HSCC committees.parliament.uk/committee/81...

Thank goodness someone is drawing an ethical & governance line on Palantir's march into our public services, wish it were the same with our #NHS www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Amazing story - well done lifeguard Ashlee! 🥇 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

At least 131 deaths and over 500 suspected cases have been reported in the latest #Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo. "What we're worried about is controlling the situation," shares Trish Newport, our Emergency Coordinator: www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

More NHS outsourcing as management of bank staff contracted out - John Lister @protectournhsbanes.bsky.social lowdownnhs.info/news/still-m...

In research from the OECD group of developed countries, Britain ranks joint bottom for nursing pay when compared with the average UK wage.

Excellent report from John Lister on the shameful decision of Bath, Swindon & Wilts Hospitals Group to outsource its essential #NHS bank staff to private company Pulse: The Lowdown share.google/rqb6RySD3u0a...

Keir Starmer, deliver the "biggest wave of insourcing in a generation" you promised Sign the petition to add your name to this demand: vist.ly/54fc5

A scary canter through Streeting's final 'gift' to the NHS. The single patient record aka Single Palantir Record will have all your medical data, available to whoever the sec of state sees fit, to sell or use for 'any legitimate purpose' with no opt outs. First task for James Murray is to bin this.

Excellent report from John Lister on the shameful decision of Bath, Swindon & Wilts Hospitals Group to outsource its essential #NHS bank staff to private company Pulse: The Lowdown share.google/rqb6RySD3u0a...

For years, we have warned that bringing Palantir into the #NHS will erode patient trust. Now, we learn that Palantir staff have been given "unlimited" access to our identifiable health data. Patients have never consented to this. Palantir needs to go.

Our Co-Chair @drjohnpuntis.bsky.social said: "The so-called independent sector...uses [the NHS] as a safety net. There are long established concerns about risks to patients in private hospitals and the fact that the NHS picks up the tab when things go wrong." www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/...

Sepsis almost killed me – and my private clinic didn’t wa... share.google/1bGy0CmI5JdY...

Is your personal medical information safe from profit-seeking under the government’s plans for the NHS? GPs block data sharing in fight over new contract lowdownnhs.info/comment/gps-...

Unless we change the voting system, we will see this at the next general election as well. With votes split across five or more parties, power can be won on as little as 25% of the vote. This needs to be a wake-up call.