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Gifts from The Morning Star
Medacs: how to make money from a run-down NHS
SOLOMON HUGHES illuminates the dark art of Tory trickery in the health service: cut public spending, then pay major party donors like Lord Ashcroft to fill the gaps with their private medical companies
READY TO STEP IN: Lord Ashcroft is all for privatising the NHS as the head of a private healthcare supplier

IF you want to see how politically connected privatisation firms make money out of the NHS, you can look over the latest accounts for Medacs Healthcare PLC, released at the end of July. They show how the NHS privatisers do well out of the NHS doing badly.

Its annual report tells us: “The group has identified Lord Ashcroft as the ultimate controlling party” of Medacs. Ashcroft “has influence” over half the shares of Medacs’ parent company Impellam, which he chairs.  

Ashcroft is one of the Tories’ main donors, giving the party millions over the years.

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3 October 2025

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