Kingston NHS trust ‘rides roughshod’ over government policy, as it
presses ahead with social enterprise
12th November 2009
Unite has said that Kingston Primary Care Trust’s (PCT) decision
not to hold a staff ballot over proposals to create a social
enterprise ‘rides rough shod over government policy’.
Unite, the largest union in the country, is fighting the PCT’s
plans to hive off NHS services into a social enterprise, as it
contravenes health secretary Andy Burnham’s recent policy
announcement that the NHS is ‘the preferred provider’ for
services.
Unite, along with the other staff side unions, had asked
managers at the Surrey trust, which covers 150,000 people, to hold
a ballot of staff, as to whether they are in favour of transferring
to a social enterprise.
Unite regional officer, Peter Storey, said: ”The joint unions
have always stated their preference for NHS provision. The request
for a ballot has been rejected out of hand and the intention is for
the social enterprise to become a reality next month. The right to
request a social enterprise was made by the management without any
involvement of the staff or unions.
”Andy Burnham has already said that the NHS is the preferred
provider of choice. This means that outside providers, such as a
social enterprise, can only be asked to tender if a trust is deemed
to be failing and has not taken remedial measures. Kingston PCT is
now riding roughshod over government policy.
”Services in Kingston are not failing, so why are we dismantling
the NHS? The Kingston public now needs to get involved to save the
NHS they value.“
Managers at Kingston PCT are pressing ahead with their plans for
the social enterprise, which is a commercial organisation one step
removed from the NHS proper, that can win – and lose – contracts to
provide services to the NHS for a limited period of time.
If the social enterprise loses its contracts to, for example, a
North American private healthcare company in five years time, jobs
could be lost and services to the Kingston public could become
fragmented. The ethos of a NHS providing a unified, joined-up
service for patients could disappear.
There is also the issue about whether a social enterprise would
pay VAT – a tax from which the NHS is currently exempt. Such an
additional financial burden could question the whole viability of
the social enterprise experiment.
Peter Storey added: ”It is clear that social enterprises are a
leap in the dark in terms of provision of services; the employment
conditions and pensions of NHS staff that could be severely eroded,
or even lost; and the viability of the financial model proposed, if
VAT is charged on its services.”
ENDS
For further information, please ring: Peter Storey 07958 511 573
or Shaun Noble, communications officer (health sector) 020 7420
8951 or 07768 693 940
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