The Tory government is allowing health services to be provided by private companies, with a deal being struck with Virgin Care who will soon be responsible for delivering over 200 NHS services. Virgin will be the first private firm to run adult social care after winning a controversial £700 million contract from Bath and North East Somerset council.
Virgin Care is a for-profit company, concerned with shareholder value primarily. It is deeply troubling to know that government money is being given to a large corporation to provide public services.
While Virgin Care has agreed to reinvest all surpluses back into services, what a "surplus" is has not been defined clearly, nor does it state how long it will do this.
If Virgin is to provide NHS services we must hold them accountable and ensure that they take zero profit out so that health care services are still being delivered at a high standard and the provision of health care is not lining shareholders' pockets.
Sign today to hold Virgin Care accountable and keep Britain's tax money in the NHS. By signing today you are sending a strong message that tax payers should not be paying for a corporation to profit on health care.
To Sir Richard Branson,
As someone who is passionate about ensuring people have good access to health care and that government money is used to provide that health care, I am asking that you run at zero profit on all health care services provided by Virgin Care.
The recent Bath and North East Somerset contract, worth £700 million should be used exclusively for the provision of health care services. While the company has said that any surplusses would be reinvested in services there is no clear definition of what you constitute as a surplus.
I ask you then to ensure you run a financially transparent, zero profit approach on all NHS services that you run. I ask you to also define what surplus is to ensure that Virgin shareholders are not profiting on tax payer money.
[Your Comment Here]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
