bridge too far

wagon

woods

lyons

man

station

boy

dune

corp?

[for whom the] bell [tolls]

sally army

^^ I've often thought that there's more to HMRCs pursuit of PFC. I reckon they're out to get AA as well, in view of his past 'demeanours'.

And there's lots of stuff not covered by private health insurance. Certainly when my dad had his stroke, his private insurance didn't cover any of his treatment. And private insurance doesn't cover trauma, so if someone had, say, a car accident, they wouldn't be treated by a private hospital.

Yes - we watched this for the second time and enjoyed it just as much. Just finished watching 'Inglourious Basterds'. Not sure what I make of it TBH. Very gory!.

As someone else above has said, when market testing first came into being (in about 1991 IIRC), contracts were awarded to the company offering the lowest price. More recently a number of criteria are used to judge bids. Bidders have to complete comprehensive questionnaires (called PQQs) before they even get invited to tender. Tenders are then judged on price, time and quality. Resultant contracts nowadays have penalty clauses (dependant on the type of contract) but the biggest problem that the public sector has is a lack of resources to monitor the contractor's performance. Monitoring is usually carried out by someone as an addition to their normal job. Many contracts these days are 'self-monitoring', relying on the contractor to produce data on a regular basis to demonstrate that the terms of the contract are being adhered to. But this still requires someone to check the self-monitoring report. For example, with a PFI hard and soft FM element, KPIs will include, for example, response times to reported faults or need for a cleaner. So calls have to be logged, acted upon and then checked to see what the response time was. But also, in a hospital, consideration has to be given to whether, for example, having an operating theatre out of use impacts on the business of the hospital. If it does, then penalty points and fines are imposed. As you can imagine, this requires someone working for the hospital to check and monitor the whole procedure. It really is very time consuming, particularly when it's an add-on to someone's 'normal' work. But penalty clauses ARE invoked and, in my view and experience, contractors are less likely and able to pull the wool over the customer's eyes. One of the biggest offenders is the large scale building contractor. I had a friend who worked for one of these. He told me that his company used to make more 'profit' out of legal challenges to contracts than in the contract itself (by things such as delay events)!

No, no. Women are the 'designer label' and men are the cheap Primark copy. HTH

I don't understand what you mean by this?

Yep - to Fiona Barratt, 29, the granddaughter of millionaire housing tycoon Sir Lawrie Barratt, met Sol in 2005 and he proposed last year.

Since they're independent 'sub-contractors' they're not part of the NHS then, are they (to be pedantic). They are sub-contracted by the NHS to provide services in the same way as some cleaners, porters and caterers are (although in fact some GPs ARE directly employed by the NHS). The NHS itself doesn't profit from them or from their patients. The proposals are for services to be commissioned by groups of GPs who will, in essence, set up as privately owned buyers. Some of the provided services may well be provided by private hospitals who are answerable to shareholders. See where the profit on the back of ill health starts to come into focus? Oh and some pharmacies are owned and run by the NHS.

Anything's got to be better than coachloads of elderly people crossing the border between the US and Canada because they can't afford to pay for their drugs in the US.

generally

When construction projects in the public sector are out to tender the following process is followed: 1. Outline plans are drawn up (by the hospital / education department). 2. The Building Surveyors Handbook rates are used to estimate the approximate cost of the project (the rates will vary from one area to another) 3. The project is put out to competitive tender. The estimated price is not given, but rather kept confidential and with a contingency sum added 4. The most competitive tender in terms of cost, time and quality is awarded the contract. Comprehensive scoring methods are used to evaluate each bid There have been a number of cases of collusion or 'Buggins Turn', most notably at a Nottingham hospital and it's people like me, experienced in auditing construction contracts, who have instigated an OFT investigation: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/17/construction.carillionbusiness http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/4644485.Huge_fines_for_collusion_among_construction_firms/ Procurement managers in the public sector have to be members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, the same as procurement managers in the private sector. I hold this qualification as I was a Procurement Manager in the NHS before becoming an auditor specialising in PFI, P21, LIFT and capital contract audit so I do know what I'm talking about. Building Schools for the Future projects initially took a long time to get underway and this is mainly because the project wasn't just to build or refurbish one school. It involves the whole education department for a particular authority having to review and consult with parents, teachers and pupils and sometimes local Social Services and the NHS about the overall need of the education service in the authority's domain. Only then, once a clear pathway has been established to take account of, for example, education for special needs, authority-wide IT etc. etc. can the WHOLE project be put out to tender. The bid process, because it has to be conducted within EU procurement rules, takes at least 6 months. Once the successful bidder has been chosen, designs have to be worked up and considered with end users. Once a BSF partnership is in place further phases are much, much quicker. It's the initial conceptual and bidding process that takes time and there are no shortcuts here (at least not without parents and teachers complaining that they haven't been consulted). So it's not quite so simple (and inefficient) as the media would have you believe. Further information and advice available for a fee

lender

See, this is the advantage of the NHS. Because of its buying power, it has managed to drive down the costs of the drugs it buys. Drug companies do make profit but much of that is derived from 'over the counter' remedies. And a large amount of 'profit' is re-invested into research. As the partner of one who works in the industry, I can tell you that the cost of this research is huge due to the very strict demands of testing and the multi-million pounds' worth of equipment required. Of course, some of the profit is used to support pressure groups who want the NHS to buy the novel drugs the companies are developing.

What part of 'not for profit' don't you understand? Oh, hang on - you're a Tory. You don't understand the concept, do you. See bullet points 2 and 9 in the top ten list.

Let's see what the NHS Trust itself says, shall we? TOP 10 FACTS About HinchingbrookeNext Steps. Please let us know your thoughts by Wednesday 11 August 2010. If you’d rather complete a paper version of this feedback form, please download Next Steps News 3 (for a copy click here) 1. Hinchingbrooke hospital is not being closed; there were no plans to close it in 2006, and there are no plans to close it now. 2. Hinchingbrooke is not being privatised. What is being offered is a franchise to operate the hospital. 3. Patients will continue to receive NHS services, free at the point of delivery. 4. Staff will continue to be employed by the NHS, retaining their NHS terms and conditions. 5. Hinchingbrooke’s buildings and assets will remain within the NHS, as will any benefit derived from them. 6. The public is being involved in the process. There are three waves of public engagement, spanning the entire Hinchingbrooke Next Steps project, and numerous ways in which people can feed in their ideas and practical suggestions. 7. A&E and maternity are not earmarked for closure. 8. Treatment for NHS patients is the priority. This is about NHS patients. 9. The successful franchisee will not be making a profit at the expense of patient care. They will be subject to the same clinical and operational scrutiny as every NHS hospital. 10. The franchisee will operate as if it is the Trust. All accountabilities and governance will remain as they are now, without change See? Here is the link again: http://www.strategicprojectseoe.co.uk/feedback_hinchingbrooke.php?id_sec=96 Whilst I don't think its a good idea, it WAS the Labour plan. The process hasn't finished yet and, to reiterate, I have no doubt that the Terms of Reference will change and the whole shooting match will go to the private sector on a profit-making basis now that the ConDems are in charge.