NHS hospital may be privately run

Five private health providers (BUT NO NHS PROVIDERS ) are still vying to manage Hinchingbrooke district general in Cambridgeshire.

So does this amounted to the privatisation of the service ? well in the strictest sense of the word yes but is that a bad thing ?

You could say its a "dangerous experiment" involving bidders with no experience of running an NHS hospital but then again all the providers are said to have a proven track record in health care and the health authority's director of strategy, Stephen Dunn, said all the companies in the contest had provided elective surgery, such as knee and hip replacements, to NHS patients in treatment centres.

He said: "The NHS remains firmly part of this process. Staff and assets will remain in the NHS. They are not being sold.

But should we be worried that most private sector companies do not know how to run a hospital with intensive care, maternity and emergency services?