NHS Privatisation by the Back Door?
For Evington Village the opening of the new Olympus Health clinic seems to represent an investment in the future of trade on Main Street. Too many local and city-based shopping streets have empty shop units, gaping holes in the fabric of local commerce that make them feel like forgotten, dying entities.
After the closing of our Post Office and pharmacy, not forgetting the GP branch surgery, there was worry about what would happen to the empty building. Empty shops are unsightly and put off shoppers and investors, so even if it has taken over a year to arrive, it is a welcome development.
The range of services on offer may attract people from wider afield and increase footfall on Main Street, hopefully then benefitting other traders. However, there is a downside.
Olympus health offers a variety of medical procedures, one of their strap lines declares “Private doctor-led services, offering joint injections, minor surgery, ultrasounds, acupuncture and men’s health procedures with minimal wait times, delivered by experts.”
All the interventions offered are part and parcel of standard NHS services. Most of these entail long waiting times if referred to the NHS. So, for those who do not want to wait and have the money to pay for treatment it could be a blessing.
Some may well struggle with the concept given these same treatments are free at the point of delivery within the NHS. Does this constitute privatisation of core NHS provision?
We already have private medical care through, for example, Nuffield and Spire Hospitals, but they do not make the same claims as Olympus Heath. Even though they can be accessed via an NHS contract, through a GP referral, they are clearly a private business.
Olympus health on the other hand dresses itself up as a close cousin of the NHS, even adopting the principles and values that guide the NHS. They offer same-week availability for most procedures and unlike the NHS, no long waits and no referrals needed. They use the NHS logo and have adopted additional logos that are genuine NHS ones such as the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Provider Company and NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Alliance.
The main building from which the business operates is a genuine, CQC regulated NHS GP facility. It is a GP practice/primary care medical centre providing NHS services. The centre is run by a provider organisation (Willows Group Ltd / Willows Healthcare) rather than being directly owned by the NHS. This is very common and most GP practices in England are independent contractors delivering NHS services. Many patients of the St Elizabeth Medical Centre (The Netherhall practice) may even have been referred there for NHS Treatment.
Thus, adding Olympus Healthcare into the mix muddies the waters even more and can lead to confusion for patients. Patients can easily assume they are receiving NHS care when they may not be. It constitutes a private provider operating from an NHS premises. Olympus Health is not just “near” the NHS It is operating within the local NHS delivery ecosystem.
It is conducting its business from an NHS primary care site, alongside NHS services and potentially using overlapping clinicians. Essentially its use of an NHS site is legitimate but potentially confusing.
Worryingly the signage outside the premises states “Routine and Emergency GP Appointments.” This seems to be opportunistic marketing given the fact that those who run our local NHS services (The ICB) approved the closure of our well-loved local branch surgery at the end of 2024. Now they are working hand in glove it seems with a private provider who operates out of an NHS building.
In the next article we will consider the ownership of Olympus Health and the links between the owner and the NHS.
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