Enron NHS?
Foundation Hospitals and the backdoor privatisation of the National Health Service

A TGWU Briefing Paper.
With an introduction by Bill Morris

Published: September 2002
Paperback: 12 pages

The creation of Foundation Hospitals is the government's flagship policy for reforming the National Health Service, and is being seen as emblematic of its whole approach to public service modernisation.

But this paper argues that they could represent a threat to a unified, integrated NHS that is free at the point of use. Foundation Hospitals will inject a competitive ethos into the service, open the way for expanding private healthcare on the American model, and open a gap in service delivery between a small elite of favoured hospitals guarding their position against a lower tier of "second class" provision upon which the majority will depend.

"As this briefing paper researched by Catalyst for the T&G demonstrates, foundation hospitals represent a full-blown assault on our public services and a giant step towards privatisation of the NHS."
- Bill Morris, General Secretary, TGWU

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"For the many, not the few" - The Observer, 29 September 2002

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