Learning point of the day - outsourcing health

Closely related to my pic of the day, my learning point today was that in order to address the backlog it faces in many areas, the NHS is outsourcing a proportion of its MRI service to a contractor. I had heard fragments about the outsourcing of administrative functions in the past, but was quite surprised to learn about this. Bear in mind that the scans are conducted by radiographers. They then have to be assessed by radiologists. The contractor is not permitted to use UK-based radiologists for this purpose (well, this would hardly clear the backlog, I suppose), so these are being sent to mainland Europe and South Africa.

I have many frustrations with the whole process, but they are not pertinent to my learning point, so I'll leave it right there before that soapbox forces itself under my feet!