PFI HOSPITALS IN TROUBLE

Interesting piece in today's Morning Star. Could this be the end of PFI in the NHS?

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/britain/nationalise_pfi_hospitals_insist_activists

NHS - SAFE IN OUR HANDS ????????

Spotted these figures on the Compass website from a Tameside (Greater Manchester ) doctor.
NHS privatisation , far from being mothballed, is steadily eroding the ideals on whuch Nye Bevan founded Labour's greteast achievement in 1948.

"Prior to 1997, the NHS was buying less than £200m a year of private treatment; this is estimated to have increased to £4bn by 2007. As much as 15% of cherry-picked elective surgery will be hived off to private hospitals, leaving NHS trusts to cover the complex and Cinderella services. PFI schemes worth more than £5bn have been completed since 1997, with another £12bn under negotiation - all of them locking trusts into costly, long-term leasehold deals."

COMMON SENSE IN SCOTLAND

Common sense has prevailedc in Scotland,where Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has scrapped plans for a £100 million prison to be run by the private sector .
The 700-cell jail, to replace Low Moss near Bishopbriggs which closed in May, will instead be run by the Scottish Prison Service.
Mr MacAskill said: "Prisons are for public safety, not for private profit. So we are drawing a line in the sand. If only this Govt, still hell-bent on PFI and privatisation, would take a similar view.
PS: On another note good to see Ian Davidson MP piling up the pressure on the PM for a referendum on the new EU constitution. However, will this (yet again) be a rebellion which peters out pathetically when push comes to shove. I hope not. Brown really can't get away with this one.....