Is the NHS being privatised by the back door in Sheffield?

Good afternoon readers — and welcome to our Monday briefing.

At a time when waiting lists are at an all time high, it’s perhaps understandable that the NHS is turning to the private sector to help address the backlogs. But where do you draw the line? A national newspaper has learned that three senior consultants in Sheffield carried out private operations using NHS facilities in a practice known as “insourcing”. Their company, Pioneer Healthcare, was sold last year for £13m. Today we look at concerns that the controversial practice, which is now worth £300 million a year, could lead to privatisation by the back door.

As well as that we have a beautiful flat at Park Hill, two classic films at Sheffield General Cemetery, and a new exhibition all about hair at Weston Park Museum.

Catch up and coming up

Lots of you enjoyed our moving weekend read by an anonymous writer about his experience of being homeless in Sheffield over the last four decades. You can still read that piece here. 

Last week we sent out two great newsletters to our 1,163 paying members. The first included a piece about a very nearly disastrous trip sometime Tribune contributor Dani Cole and I tried to make to the Sheffield Antiques Quarter. And the second included a piece about the shame of former Sheffield Hallam MP Jared O’Mara. An extract from that first piece is below.

It’s Thursday lunchtime, so it’s not exactly rammed. But there are a steady stream of customers looking round the labyrinthine building. Sandra has come to Langton’s with her niece from Dronfield. “I’m obsessed by dolls’ houses,” she tells me. It turns out she has an entire room at home full of them, and spends a pretty penny on her hobby. “Just a kitchen cost £100,” she says. Sandra is currently looking for an old fashioned radio which she can take the insides out of and repurpose into a piano room for her dolls to enjoy. Where did you get that idea from, I ask her. “I’m full of 'em,” she says.

This week we’ll send out two more including a lovely piece about a new book which lifts the lid on what Sheffielders were really reading in the early years of the 20th century. To help fund a new way of doing journalism in Sheffield focused on local readers rather than shareholders, please consider subscribing using the button below. It costs £1.34 a week if you pay for 12 months up front.

Editor’s note: More than 150 new members have joined The Tribune so far this year, including an amazing 26 after we published our story about Jared O’Mara last Thursday. This means we’re well on the way to reaching 1,250 by the end of March, and we can also tentatively start thinking about reaching our break even point sometime later this year. The support we have received since launching in March 2021 has been amazing. Thank you.

The big picture: Commons people 📚

We love this stunning picture of people using the University of Sheffield’s Information Commons building we found on Instagram. The building was opened in 2007 and has over 1,300 study spaces, 500 computers, and carries 100,000 texts. It is open to staff and students 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This week’s weather ⛅

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say high pressure wanes to the south through the week, encouraging a breeze and the risk of some patchy rain after midweek. Turning milder...

Monday 🌥️ Cloud breaking through the day to allow some pleasant sunshine by the afternoon. Still rather cool with a frost possible overnight. Highs of 8°C.

Tuesday 🌤️ Early mist and fog lifts to long spells of pleasantly warm sunshine. Milder than Monday with light winds and highs of 11°C.

Wednesday 🌥️ Cloud increases during the day after a cold start. The risk of some light rain later on as the cloud thickens. Breezier with highs of 10°C.

Thursday ☁️ A breezy and less settled day as weather fronts threaten and weaken. Large cloud amounts with a patchy rain risk, especially further west with highs of 11°C.

Friday ☁️ Windy and mild with cloud occasionally breaking to bright spells. A continuing risk of a shower. Low confidence. Highs of 12°C.

Outlook: Low pressure to the north clears to allow high pressure to build behind, likely encouraging a settled weekend with temperatures close to average.

To see the full forecast and keep up to date with any changes to the outlook, follow Steel City Skies on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The big story: Is the NHS being privatised by the back door in Sheffield?

Top line: A report in The Observer on Sunday has revealed three senior consultants from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Sheffield Children's Hospital have set up a company which is profiting from the huge backlog on NHS waiting lists. Is this privatisation by the back door?

What is ‘insourcing’? Since 2018, hospitals have been allowed to open up their facilities for private health companies to carry out elective operations and other treatments on NHS premises in a practice known as  “insourcing”. The healthcare takes place when the facilities are not being used by the NHS, like evenings and weekends.

• One of the companies, Pioneer Healthcare, is led by Professor Prasad Godbole, deputy medical director at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, paediatric neurosurgeon Mr Hesham Zaki from Sheffield Children’s and Mr John McMullan, a consultant neurosurgeon at both Sheffield Children’s and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.
• The Observer found that since 2021, Pioneer Healthcare has run 64 all-day theatre lists at Sheffield Children's Hospital, and from January 2019 to December 2022 was paid more than £6.5m by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. It was bought by a separate private healthcare company Totally last year in a deal worth £13m.

A win-win? Pioneer Healthcare says that insourcing has so far helped take 40,000 people off an NHS waiting list which currently stands at an astonishing 7.21 million. And the practice also incentivises consultants to do overtime as well. The current rules on NHS pensions mean if consultants work extra hours within the NHS, they lose more money than they gain. However, if they are employed on top of their NHS hours by a private company, they keep more of what they earn. The government has been urged to address this problem but has yet to do so.

Conflict of interests: However, many believe that if it isn’t carefully controlled, insourcing could lead to conflicts of interests, with consultants who work in senior positions in the NHS in Sheffield potentially becoming incredibly rich if more patients are treated privately. One source quoted in the Observer piece described it as “backdoor privatisation”.

• According to healthcare consultancy Mansfield Advisors, insourcing is predicted to be one of the fastest growing areas in the NHS with the market forecast to be worth £295m next year, up from £44m in 2019.
• Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Sheffield Children’s Hospital insist that none of the clinicians who set up Pioneer Healthcare were involved in decisions to use the company to carry out insourcing work.

Our take: At a time when waiting lists are the highest they have ever been, many would argue that utilising spare capacity in the NHS is justified. However, there are obvious dangers. Outsourcing, itself controversial, has been used for many years. But using NHS facilities to deliver private care muddies the waters still further. While patients obviously want to be treated as quickly as possible, they also need to have confidence that decisions made about their health are being taken in their best interests rather than private healthcare firms.

Home of the week 🏡

This beautifully-presented top floor two-bedroom apartment at Sheffield’s iconic Park Hill flats has a south-facing balcony and stunning views across the city. It is on the market for £210,000.

Tribune Tips: If you want to tell us about a story or give us some information, please email editor@sheffieldtribune.co.uk. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch.

Our media picks 🎧

Are objections to a Travellers site at Beighton really about the traffic? 🚌 A good piece in Now Then about a row over a proposed new traveller site in Beighton. The site would be the second in the south east of the city, and is opposed by the area’s councillors and Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts on the grounds that it may increase congestion. However, others say much of the opposition to the site is in fact rooted in anti-traveller prejudice and racism.

Deposed ruler’s secret prison letters found and decoded 👑 A fascinating piece on the BBC website about a set of letters written by Mary Queen of Scots when she was imprisoned at Manor Lodge which have been found in the National Library of France. The 50 letters, all written in code, have been described as the most important breakthrough on the subject in a century. Mary was imprisoned in Sheffield for 14 years by Elizabeth I before being executed.

Richard Hawley speaks to Lauren Laverne 📻 London is going Standing at the Sky’s Edge crazy and last week co-writer Richard Hawley joined BBC 6 Music breakfast DJ Lauren Laverne to talk about the musical’s debut at the National Theatre. Hawley talks about first being told about the idea when he was on tour with Nancy Sinatra in Portugal 12 years ago, and says he was initially reluctant to do it. The interview begins at 6 minutes 25 seconds.

Have you looked up yet?

Look Up Sheffield started last week and judging by the number of people sharing the hashtag #LookUpSheff on social media seems to have gone down well so far. The Neon Pack on Sheffield Hallam University’s Owen Building is the work of the Park Hill-based creative agency Human Studio and is one of four augmented reality (AR) installations in the city centre. For all the details see the website.

Things to do 📆

Art ✏️ Join artist Billy Hughes for a practical drawing workshop inspired by the Millennium Gallery's Ruskin Collection. Writer and art critic John Ruskin believed that drawing was fundamental to understanding the world around us and campaigned to keep every person drawing, regardless of talent or skill. Drawing from Ruskin: Dirtying Paper, Delicately is suitable for all and takes place on Tuesday, 14 February (11am-4pm). Tickets are £20.

Film 🍿 On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, two legendary films will be shown at the beautiful Samuel Worth Chapel at Sheffield General Cemetery. On Tuesday, 14 February (Valentine’s Day), David Lean’s 1945 classic Brief Encounter will be shown followed on Wednesday, 15 February by the film many argue is the greatest of all time, Casablanca. Doors will open on both nights at 7pm and the films start at 7.30pm prompt. Tickets are £8.

Exhibition 💈 A new exhibition all about hair is now open at Weston Park Museum. From jewellery and dresses to armour and environmental protection, Hair: Untold Stories highlights the remarkable qualities of hair as a material, and explores how and why we care so much about it. The free exhibition weaves in the work of artists, filmmakers and designers with a wide range of objects and archive material which reflect our complex relationship with our own hair.