Will your GP be wearing a Virgin name badge?
March 4th 2010
Richard Branson enters the NHS today as Virgin Healthcare buys Assura Medical, a company which provides health centres. So what do we all make of this?
The Virgin brand is well recognised and seems to be generally associated with good customer service. Will this drive up the level of service at your local health centre? Will doctors want to work for the company?
On the other hand the British Medical Association has just started a campaign against the commercialisation of the NHS. They would prefer that NHS services were not provided by private companies.
There's one outcome we can safely predict: As we head towards a general election the debate will get louder.
