Aug 14th, 2018
NHS Open Letter
By Becca McCarthy
It’s been confirmed – Virgin Care, a company owned by billionaire Richard Branson – has been awarded almost £2 billion pounds worth of NHS contracts over the past few years. [1] As if that wasn’t enough, they tried to squeeze even more money out of our NHS by dragging it through the courts, suing the NHS for millions which could be spent on improving healthcare. [2]
Virgin Care have got away with this. But Richard Branson has a high profile – he cares what the public think of him and his businesses. He’ll be hoping people have forgotten that his company dragged our NHS through the courts for money.
That’s where we come in. If hundreds of thousands of us sign an open letter to Richard Branson today – telling him to stop pursuing our NHS for even more money, he’ll know where the public stand. He and his lawyers would think twice before they take our NHS to court again.
If you believe that taxpayers’ money should be spent improving our hospitals, not fighting a billionaire in court, will you sign the open letter to Richard Branson now?
Richard Branson publicly said he doesn’t want to “profit personally” from the NHS. [3] But that doesn’t wash when his company brought forward a court case against our NHS, worth millions of pounds. [4]
Richard Branson cares about what the public think of him – and his businesses. If thousands of us sign the open letter – telling him not to drag our NHS through the courts for money- the public backlash could put an end to these sorts of court cases. And it could save our NHS millions.
NOTES:
[1] The Guardian: Virgin awarded almost £2bn of NHS contracts in the past five years:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/05/virgin-awarded-almost-2bn-of-nhs-contracts-in-the-past-five-years
[2] Daily Mail: Richard Branson’s Virgin private health firm wins £2m in taxpayer cash after suing the NHS for ‘serious flaws’ when they lost a £82million contract to provide children’s medical services:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5862783/Richard-Bransons-Virgin-private-health-firm-wins-2m-suing-NHS-flaws.html
The Telegraph: NHS pays out after Virgin threatens to sue after losing out on contract:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/28/nhs-pays-virgin-threatens-sue-losing-contract/
[3] Virgin: Virgin Care and supporting a free, efficient NHS:
https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/virgin-care-and-supporting-free-efficient-nhs
[4] See Note 2
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