Shifting influence: the unaccountable millions paid by industry to healthcare organisations

Abstract

In moving the NHS from broken to “fixed” (doi:10.1136/bmj.q2309),1 the focus is on three shifts identified in the Darzi review: from treatment to prevention, from hospital to community, and from analogue to digital (doi:10.1136/bmj.q2263).2 These all seem sensible, well established, and widely endorsed. Yet there are other shifts: unspoken ones or givens. One given, in common with most national policies, is the absolute centrality of public-private partnership. In healthcare this dogma tends to involve the use of private healthcare companies for extra capacity or the rule of management consultants over healthcare staff and resources. When it comes …