Streatham has three GP practices taken over by an American private healthcare company

We Own It is a campaign group opposing privatisation and demanding 21st century public ownership.

They rightly believe that public services belong to all of us – from the NHS to schools, water to energy, rail to Royal Mail, care work to council services.

They recently posted a list of GP Practices taken over by the US health insurance giant Centene, through its UK subsidiary, Operose Health, and this included three in Streatham.

These are:

Edith Cavell Surgery 41A-C Streatham Hill SW2 4TP

Streatham High Practice 2-8 Gracefield Gardens SW16 2ST

Streatham Place Surgery 26-28 Streatham Place SW2 4QY

They said:

Centene has recently taken over AT Medics, a primary care provider responsible for 49 GP surgeries and over 370,000 patients in the Greater London area.

With a total of 70 GP surgeries and practices, Centene is almost certainly the largest single provider of NHS primary care in England.

This is shocking. Even the Daily Mail has called Centene a “profit greedy” company.

Below is a full list of the GP surgeries and practices currently owned by Centene, through its subsidiary Operose Health UK.

A poster on the Streatham discussion thread also noted, “a 2018 Forbes article suggests Centene’s medical interests (in the US) include a “Corrections portfolio” (ie prisons) Centene Acquisition Bolsters Its Prison Healthcare Business“.

Another noted:

AT Medics (as the private consortium was known before being bought ought by US MedCo) grew partly by taking over “troubled” practices.

I think that was how they gained Streatham Place Surgery after the previous GP owners were alleged to have been falsifying registered patients and treatments.

Suspended Streatham doctors ‘made millions’, it is claimed

What’s your thoughts?

Join in with the Streatham discussion on our non profit forum