Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
CENTENE, a US health corporation expanding throughout the NHS, has been repeatedly fined in its native United States for medical and financial failures.
Missouri-based Centene is enthusiastic about Britain, which it says is one of its two overseas locations. It is so keen it is buying key British companies and key British personnel.
Centene is very big in the United States — it is the 42nd-biggest firm in the US, according to the Fortune 500 list of US firms.
In the second part of her critique of Wes Streeting’s TenYear Plan for Health, HELEN MERCER looks at the central planks of this privatisation blueprint
Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS


