- NHS Trusts pay at least £1.8 billion a year on private contracts
- Ambulance trusts spent almost £300 million on private ambulances during the past three years
- GMB’s annual congress in Brighton tells Government: ‘end outsourcing’
NHS trusts pay at least £1.8 billion a year to private companies, an investigation has revealed.
GMB Union sent Freedom of Information requests to more than 200 trusts, with responses showing they spent £1,831,105,580 per year on outsourced contracts.
Just under half the trusts asked didn’t respond – meaning the true figure could be far higher.
A separate investigation found ambulance trusts across England spent £290 million on private ambulances during the past three years. [1] The total annual spend has almost doubled since 2021/2022.
The figures emerge as GMB’s annual congress in Brighton delivers a message to the Government over the NHS today [Monday].
Mo Akbar, Ambulance worker, told congress:
“GMB members demand an end to privatisation.
“We must bring all outsourced services like cleaning, catering, and facilities back in-house.
“We demand real terms restorative pay from the fourteen years of brutal austerity.
“Workers and communities should have more say in how the NHS is run, ensuring decisions focus on patient care, not financial targets. Health outcomes are tied to poverty, housing, and working conditions, so NHS rebuilding must also address these inequalities.
This Labour Government will have a crisis of legitimacy if they choose a path of further privatisation of the NHS, which would put at risk the sense of the collectivism that is at the heart of our health service
“We must be resolute in fighting for our National Health Service.”
