Netcare

Netcare was established in 1996, and was listed on the JSE Limited (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) the same year.[2] It initially expanded into the UK in 2001. In 2002 it won The Ophthalmic Chain contract in Kent, Merseyside, Cumbria, Lancashire, Hampshire, and Thames Valley, to carry out 44,500 cataract removals over a 5-year period and the £2.5bn contract for the Greater Manchester Surgical Centre, a 48-bed facility at Trafford General Hospital to provide 44,863 elective procedures over 5 years with a diagnostics programme valued at £1bn. In 2004 it signed a contract to carry out 41,600 cataract operations for the NHS at sites throughout the UK including Cumberland Infirmary.[3]

The company acquired a controlling stake in General Healthcare Group, the UK's largest private hospital group with 50 hospitals, in 2006 for £2.2 billion. This brought Netcare's total number of hospitals to 120 with over 11,000 beds, 510 operating theatres, and 37 pharmacies. GHG had a subsidiary company, Amicus Health which tendered for NHS contracts. It had contracts with Stracathro Hospital for 8000 episodes of elective surgery in orthopaedics, urology, general surgery and gastroenterology from 2006–9. The company used Vanguard Healthcare mobile units to treat NHS cataract patients across the UK.[4] The mobile cataract units in Cumbria had failure rates 6 times that of local NHS facilities.[5]

6 patients who were treated at the Royal Hospital Haslar in Portsmouth in 2006 sued after faulty hip operations. Netcare blamed a single rogue surgeon who had since been excluded from operating and said this was ‘an isolated incident’.

In 2010 five doctors from Netcare, two transplant unit staff, and the chief executive officer were charged for allegedly participating in an international kidney trading syndicate in which poor Brazilians and Romanians were paid to donate kidneys to wealthy Israelis.[6] The company pleaded guilty to conducting 109 illegal operations between 2001 and 2003. It admitted receiving 3.8 million rand (£342,000) from the syndicate. Netcare KwaZulu, in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, paid 7,820,000 rand (£704,000) in fines.[7]

In 2019, Netcare partnered with Founders Factory Africa, selecting 35 African health-tech startups for an acceleration and incubation program. Accelerated startups will receive a £30,000 cash investment (≈$38,000) and £220,000 in support services from Founders Factory Africa. Incubator health-tech ventures will receive £60K cash and £100K toward support. Founders Factory Africa and Netcare will share a 5 to 10 percent equity stake in each startup accepted into the program.[8]

• www.netcare.co.za
• Netcare Briefing, Keep Our NHS Public 2006