Anglia Ruskin Research Online (ARRO)
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Squaring the Circle: What lessons can be learned from the Hinchingbrooke franchise fiasco?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-26, 14:59 authored by Peter Scourfield
In 2012 the first ever operating franchise was awarded to a private provider to run an NHS district general hospital – Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire, UK. Less than three years into what was supposed to be a ten-year deal, the franchisee, Circle, announced its withdrawal from the contract, raising concerns about the process of risk assessing and monitoring the franchise arrangements. This commentary begins by telling the story of the decision to award Circle the Hinchingbrooke franchise. It sets out the context in which the franchise was awarded and outlines the stated reasons why it failed. The failure of the Circle franchise is used to question the ‘logic’ of the neo-liberal approach to public service reform. The Circle case illustrates how market mechanisms and privatisation are likely to create as many problems as they are supposed to solve.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

36

Issue number

1

Page range

142-152

Publication title

Critical Social Policy

ISSN

1461-703X

Publisher

SAGE

Language

  • other

Legacy posted date

2020-05-06

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

ARCHIVED Faculty of Health, Social Care & Education (until September 2018)

Usage metrics

    ARU Outputs

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC