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Privatisation can affect health

Employment status and health after privatisation in white collar civil servants: prospective cohort study

A study in this week's BMJ finds that loss of secure public sector employment through privatisation has a direct effect on minor psychiatric illness and longstanding health.

Over 600 employees of one civil service department that was sold to the private sector were surveyed to examine the health implications of job loss and re-employment. In general, illness was greater among those insecurely re-employed or unemployed than among those securely re-employed.

Insecure re-employment and unemployment was associated with an increase in minor psychiatric illness compared with people whose new employment was secure. In addition to this increase in individual illness, explain the authors, the loss of secure public sector employment adds to NHS costs through increased consultations with a general practitioner. This is possibly due to the increased minor psychiatric illness associated with privatisation, they conclude.

Contact:

Jane Ferrie, Senior Research Fellow, International Centre for Health and Society, University College London Medical School, UK Email: j.ferrie@public-health.ucl.ac.uk

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