The Guardian reports that the UK considering privatizing sections of the National Health Service (NHS):
A Treasury-commissioned report yesterday recommended measures to chop £6bn from public services budgets over the next two years, with further measures intended to save £15bn a year by 2013.
It calls for a shake-up of “back office” administrative and support services across government departments, the NHS and local government, a move likely to see thousands of jobs lost or outsourced.
The authors say the government should push ahead with full or part privatisation of state-owned assets such as the Royal Mint, Met Office and Land Registry, and identifies other bodies ripe for commercialisation, including the health service’s in-house staffing agency, NHS Professionals, the Central Office of Information, and Forestry Commission.
The British Medical Association thinks the privatization plan is just “barmy economics.”