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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Gregory and Anna Bawden

Private firms harming NHS patients by failing to deliver medicines, Lords report warns

NHS Lords Sciensus
A mixed collection of red, pink and yellow pills scattered on a white table
The homecare medicines service, which delivers supplies and care to patients’ homes, is estimated to be worth billions of pounds. Photograph: RM/Alamy

Private healthcare companies are harming NHS patients in their own homes by failing to deliver vital medicines, and then escaping censure amid an alarming lack of oversight by ministers and regulators, members of the House of Lords have warned.

More than 500,000 patients and their families rely on private companies paid by the NHS to deliver essential medical supplies, drugs and healthcare to their homes. The homecare medicines services sector is estimated to be worth billions of pounds.

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