The much awaited decision on who will run the first ever NHS hospital which is going to be franchised into the private sector will be announced this week on Thursday in a historic event for the NHS.

The decision will be made by the East of England Strategic Heath Authority on whether Serco which is a big public services provider or Circle which is a private hospital operator which also runs a string of NHS surgical treatment centers will take charge of the Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

The NHS hospital is a 369 bed district general hospital located in the former Huntingdon constituency of the earlier Prime Minister John Major.

The privatization of this NHS hospital does not imply the complete privatization and the NHS will still own all the assets of the hospital along with the hired medical staff which will be employed on NHS terms and conditions. They will also not be transferred to the winning franchisee as per the health authority.

However, for the coming seven years the winning private sector bidder will have a contract to operate a hospital which has had financial constraints for a really long time.