Coronavirus, how ghastly that a private company provides ambulances, profit, capitalism, blah, blah:
His employer, Falck UK Ambulance Services, is the British arm of the Danish group Falck.
OK.
There comes a point when we must stop and appraise what it means to be a civilised country, what it means to be a wealthy one. That point is when a man who is carrying the aged, the sick and the vulnerable has to keep showing up to work despite worrying that he is not receiving basic protection in a pandemic. That point is when a nation’s health service is so cash-strapped that it has to hire private companies whose worst case scenario isn’t the needless death of a worker; it’s a loss to shareholders.
Hmm. So, do we consider Denmark to be a civilised country? We do?
In Denmark, Falck is currently in charge of 65 percent of municipality fire brigades and 85 percent of ambulance services.[4] In 1926, the Danish government allowed municipal governments to contract with private companies to provide emergency services.
We might even think to investigate who owns this profit maximising company. As it turns out, the majority is owned by a charitable foundation, the next chunk is the family foundation of the people who own Lego, the third and only other major shareholder is an insurance company which is, as far as I know, a mutual.
Pick the voracious capitalists out of that.
Yes, you guessed it, Malik just wants to go kneejerk on “private” when of course everything should be done by Angels.
While she is at it, perhaps she can let us all know which unknown unknown she thinks we should prepare for, and what should be sacrificed to pay for it…
I’m completely confused. So cash-strapped you have to hire a private company? So isn’t that admitting the private company is cheaper? Because it makes no sense if you are cash-strapped to use something more expensive.
So the complaint is that we are using something that cheaper?
Of course it isn’t, it’s the bizarre whine that something is being done by somebody other than the state of course, but the whiners really are getting desperate aren’t they?
Moreover, the last refuge of indefensible arguments is to call on the reader to think about what signal WeAsAHerd want to give about ourselves. Why, sure, in a “civilised” society, everyone should get everything.
PS – In fact, preventable death of an employee IS the worst case even for a private company, which lives on its reputation and fears boycotts and lawsuits, even as its key measurement is profit.
In France, with the exception of the emergency paramedic ambulance service run by the Pompiers, all ambulances are private, some very small firms, also taxi firms provide ambulance/taxis. Depending on circumstances, patients get a prescription and the cost is reimbursed by the Caisse Premier and top-up private insurance.
‘…to keep showing up to work despite worrying that he is not receiving basic protection in a pandemic.’
Isn’t that what staff working in the World Class ™ NHS have had to do?
How *DARE* private bakers profit from the NHS, the NHS must bake their own bread. How *DARE* private farmers profit from the NHS, the NHS must grow their own food. How *DARE* private oil companies profit from the NHS, the NHS must own their own petroleum refinary and oil extraction company….
Heartless Tories cut critical care beds from 3,346 in August 2010 to 4,123 in January 2020: https://england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/MSitRep-Timeseries-January-2020-LGBH3.xls
The problem is that he doesn’t have enough PPE.
Of course, in the non-profit, publicly-owned service known as the NHS, they have enough PPE, don’t they.
Oh.
No, the problem was that the NHS sent someone with active Covid-19 home although she was showing, nay displaying, symptoms and the nurse got it wrong so the private sector worker was killed by the incompetence of the NHS.