Author: Michael Burke
Posted On: http://socialisteconomicbulletin.blogspot.com/2011/06/public-versus-private-ownership.html
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of People Before Profit.
Recent political and corporate events have thrown the relative merits of the public and private sectors into sharp relief.
The NHS is the most popular institution in Britain. According to recent research (p.386) by Lord Ashcroft for the Tories the NHS has a 79.8% approval rating – ahead of the BBC’s 66% and 61.8% for the Royal Family (and 43.1% for the Daily Mail, the lowest rating of all). Full details of the poll and voluminous and valuable additional information can be found here
This fact, and the recent mobilisations by the TUC, provides a difficult environment for the Tory-led government’s attempts to significantly reduce real health spending while qualitatively increasing the role of the private sector.
It is further complicated by the financial distress and possible collapse of Southern Cross Britain’s biggest care home provider. Southern Cross has nearly 31,000 residents in its care homes, mostly elderly patients. It is widely described as having reached a financial crisis because it sold its care home properties and leased them back prior to its flotation on the stock market.
