Unions to investigate NHS providers that oppose US health reform

Nick Bostock, healthcarerepublic.com,
26 November 2009, 00:10am

Unions have launched a campaign to protest at private healthcare firms working with the NHS but trying to derail proposals to extend public health provision in the US.

Unions to investigate NHS providers that oppose US health reform

They point to the 'irony' of firms bidding for contracts to provide services for the UK NHS, but at the same time 'spending millions to stop reforms' that could offer services to the 47 million Americans who currently have no healthcare cover.

A global union - Workers Uniting - set up by UK union Unite in partnership with the United Steelworkers union, which operates in the US and Canada, has expressed 'dismay' at the firms' stance.

Gail Cartmail, Unite assistant secretary, said: 'The global union is launching an investigation of the preferred bidders chosen by the DoH to work within the NHS.'