PRIVATE companies contracted by the NHS made £1.6 billion profit in two years, according to new data published today.

The study found the figure would have been enough to pay for 9,178 doctors or 19,428 nurses over the same period.

The Centre for Health and the Public Interest analysed NHS contracts in England with 760 private service providers worth a total of £12bn in 2023-24 and 2024-25.

It found that £2bn went to companies outside of the country and that £533 million of the overall outsourcing went to firms owned by people living in tax havens.

A Department of Health and Social Care said: “The independent sector has a role to play in tackling the waiting list backlog and building a more sustainable health system. 

“However, in working with independent providers, we will neither tolerate ‘gaming’ the national payment tariff to cherrypick the simplest, most profitable cases, nor any quality shortcomings.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr John Puntis told the Star: “These shocking figures show that private companies run rings around NHS commissioners of services when it comes to contracts.

The lesson is that the NHS should never contract out its core services to its major competitors while mis-representing the independent sector as a valued partner with shared values.

The £1.6bn. sucked out in profit could have prevented the current £1.1bn overspend by trusts that is now forcing thousands of redundancies in order to balance the books.

This will make it even more difficult for the government to restore NHS targets and reduce the waiting lists, while piling additional pressure on staff already struggling with excessive workload, stress, mental health issues and violence at work.”