Researchers claim that increased privatization of the NHS service has led to lower quality of health care and increased mortality from treatable causes.
Scholars said the avoidable deaths increased as more private services were used.
They estimated that between 2014 and 2020, 557 additional deaths could be due to changes in outsourcing.
Published in The Lancet Public Health Journal, this study investigated the impact of the 2012 Health and Social Welfare Act in the United Kingdom.
Private sector outsourcing has responded to a significant increase in treatable mortality, potentially as a result of poor quality of medical services.
Researchers at Oxford University investigated the amount of money each regional health agency spent on outsourcing between 2013 and 2020.
They also focused on “treatable mortality,” the level of death that could have been avoided with timely and appropriate medical care.
Spending on private businesses increased from 4% of all funding spent by local health agencies in 2013 to 6% in 2020.
However, there are significant geographical differences between local clinical test run groups, with some funding spending up to 20% on test run services from private companies.
A total of £ 11.5 billion was spent outsourcing medical services to the private sector during the study.
According to statistical analysis, a 1% increase in outsourcing spending each year increases the treatable mortality rate by 0.38%, killing 0.29 per 100,000 people.
Researchers said their analysis suggests that an additional 557 deaths between 2014 and 2020 may be due to changes in outsourcing.
“The privatization of the NHS in the UK has consistently increased from 2013 to 20 through outsourcing services to for-profit companies,” they write.
“Private sector outsourcing has responded to a significant increase in treatable mortality, potentially as a result of poor quality of medical services.”
Benjamin Goodair, a research author at Oxford University, said: .- Amputation and poor health. “
Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of the Nuffield Trust think tank, said of the study: .. For these results, or simply associated with them.
“Associations have been reported, but something else may be driving the connection. In areas of the NHS where the financial burden is high, mortality is likely to worsen and seek to reduce costs. You are more likely to outsource to do so.
“The mortality measure used is primarily to count heart disease, cancer and stroke, depending on the type of planned surgery, community nursing and mental health care brought in to be performed by most private providers. It’s not clear how it will be promoted. “
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said: “As the author reveals, this analysis cannot identify a causal link between mortality and outsourcing of health services.
“The NHS is always free to use and never sold to the private sector, and there has been no proportional increase in NHS spending with non-NHS providers over the last decade.”