Bedfordshire and Luton NHS bosses challenged to say if patient
services are 'failing'
25 September 2009
NHS bosses are being challenged to say whether they think NHS
trusts in Bedfordshire and Luton are ‘failing’ to provide services
to patients.
The challenge has come from Unite, the largest union in the
country, which is concerned the two trusts will become ‘social
enterprises’ – organisations one step removed from the NHS proper –
despite the wishes of the staff and the best interests of patients
and clients.
Nearly all the NHS employees at Bedfordshire Community Health
Services (BCHS) - 97% - have already voted against the social
enterprise proposals, and now staff at Luton Community Services are
being asked to vote on similar plans.
Unite argues that these moves to effectively privatise the
trusts goes against current government policy, which is that
outside providers can only be asked to tender if a trust is deemed
to be failing and has not taken remedial measures.
Unite’s Lead Officer for Health in the Eastern of England
Region, Owen Granfield said: ‘The managements in both these trusts
are flying in the face of government policy and Unite is now
challenging the management of both these trusts to say whether
their organisations are failing, as that is the only criteria for
bringing in external non-NHS providers.’
‘If the bosses say they are failing, it is an insult to
hard-working and dedicated staff. And poses the question: Why
hasn’t the senior management taken remedial action, if this were
the case?’
‘If they haven’t taken action, that poses a further question:
Does the management deliberately want the trusts to fail in order
to pave the way for privatisation? If so, this is a scandal that
needs exposing.’
At a recent Kings Fund event, Health Secretary, Andy Burnham
painted a scenario that if a NHS trust were failing on ‘quality’,
it would be given an opportunity to improve its services, and if it
were still failing, only then would other providers be approached
to tender.
BCHS employs 1,100 staff - and provides services for more than
100,000 children and 420,000 older people. Luton Community Services
employs 664 staff who will be balloted.
Unite is strongly opposed to the marketisation of the NHS, as it
puts private profit before patient care; undermines the ethos of
the NHS as a unitary service; and is detrimental to staff and their
employment conditions, as social enterprises have to compete
commercially for NHS contracts.
-ends-
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
The Patchwork Privatisation of Our Health Service – a special
report can be downloaded from www.unitetheunion.org/health
and then clicking on Health B4 Profit campaign.
For further information, please ring: Owen Granfield 07768
693942; Karen Reay, National Officer, Health 07798 531 004;
David Fleming, National Officer, Health 07798 531013; Shaun Noble,
Communications Officer (Health Sector) 020 7420 8951 or 07768 693
940
Unite Health Sector web page: www.unitetheunion.org/health
Unite/CPHVA press releases can be seen on the CPHVA website:
www.unitetheunion.org/cphva
Unite is the largest union in the UK. Its health sector
has seven professional sections: the Community Practitioners’
and Health Visitors’ Association, the Mental Health Nurses
Association, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, the Society of
Sexual Health Advisers, the Medical Practitioners’ Union, College
of Healthcare Chaplains, and the Hospital Physicists
Association.
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