NHS to be franchised around the globe under post-Brexit plans
This article was taken from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/10/nhs-franchised-around-globe-post-brexit-plans/
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The NHS is to be exported across the world as part of efforts to boost investment in Britain post-Brexit, under controversial new Government plans.
Hospitals and heath watchdogs will be encouraged to set up franchises in dozens of countries, with profits ploughed into supporting the health service.
The NHS will be asked to target up to £7bn of opportunities a year over the next decade, in a bid to share expertise and increase investment in frontline services.
Officials hope to turn the UK’s national health service into a global brand, in the same way that the BBC gains significant income from its commercial BBC Worldwide arm.
In recent years, a handful of NHS trusts have set up franchises abroad. Specialist eye hospital Moorfields has branches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, while South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation trust has set up mental health services in Abu Dhabi and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation trust is helping to develop hospital services in China.
Together, NHS organisations have won export business of more than £100m over the last two years. But ministers want to go much further – to increase overseas investment seventy-fold over the next decade.
Deborah Kobewka, managing director of Healthcare UK – a joint initiative of the Department for International Trade, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England – said a major expansion of NHS healthcare overseas is now planned.
She told The Telegraph: “We feel the opportunities are quite untapped: there has been around £100m of NHS deals abroad in the last couple of years, but we have identified opportunities of around £7bn.”
The benefits for the NHS were plentiful, she said.