Unite campaigns for Medway ‘to stay in the NHS’, as social
enterprise threat looms
23rd October 2009
Unite, the largest union in the country, is launching a campaign
for the health services in Medway ‘to stay in the NHS’, as managers
push for the creation of a social enterprise.
One of the key planks of the campaign will be to explain to the
250,000 people living in the Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester
areas the impact that a social enterprise - a body one step removed
from the NHS proper – will have on the delivery of care.
Unite, along with the other staff side unions, will be asking
managers at Medway Community Healthcare to hold a ballot of the
1,350 staff by the end of the year, as to whether they are in
favour of transferring to a social enterprise.
Social enterprises are commercial organisations 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 public could become fragmented.
The ethos of a NHS providing a unified, joined-up service for
patients could disappear.
Unite also argues that these moves to effectively privatise the
trust goes against current government policy, which is that the NHS
is ‘the preferred provider’ of choice. This means that outside
providers can only be asked to tender if a trust is deemed to be
failing and has not taken remedial measures.
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.
Unite’s lead officer for health in the south east region, Sarah
Carpenter, said: "We have had a very productive meeting with our
members and, as a result, we will be actively campaigning to keep
Medway’s services in the NHS.
"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.
"You could get a situation where a visit by a health visitor to
a young mum suffering from postnatal depression will result in the
organisation having to pay 17.5 per cent VAT when it comes to
internal accounting. That’s unacceptable.
"We want to make the public aware of what a social enterprise
will actually mean for families and communities in Medway. Social
enterprises can’t be imposed by stealth. We need the widest
possible consultation."
ENDS
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
- Unite has welcomed the government’s statement, made last
week, that the NHS is ‘the preferred provider’ of choice when
it comes to delivering services, rather than private sector
organisations.
- In his letter to the chief executives of the strategic health
authorities and primary care trusts, NHS chief executive, David
Nicholson said: "The NHS as the preferred provider is about getting
the best care for patients and looking after the NHS staff who care
for them. Our aim is to ensure that NHS staff are treated fairly
and engaged in decisions."
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: Sarah Carpenter 07768 931
303
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