Guardian: Unhealthy competition (sell-off of the NHS)

[muriel_volestrangler]

Suppose you had fallen asleep on the morning of May 1 1997, and not woken up until this week. How would you have responded to yesterday's story in the Guardian that a new NHS treatment centre in Birmingham was being handed over to a private company to carry out 9,500 operations a year in general surgery, gynaecology, urology and other specialisms? And this was not just a one-off decision, but one that allowed profit-making companies to bid for 24 treatment centres involving NHS premises, doctors and nurses. The response would surely have been: "My God, the Tories have won and are breaking up the NHS."

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What other thoughts would have been prompted by the chairman of the Birmingham hospital's medical committee, who spoke of the work and time invested by NHS staff in creating the facility for one of the most deprived populations in the country, which was now to be taken over by a profit-making concern? Was the chairman right to suggest that the poorest patients are unlikely to be a priority for the independent sector, and that the idea "stinks"?
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But this latest move breaches various important principles that were set down when the use of the private sector was first agreed. First and foremost was the "additionality" rule. This was why earlier contracts with private companies required them to bring in their own medical teams. Now, not only are the private companies to be allowed to poach NHS medics and nurses, but NHS premises too. This latest move "stinks" because it fails to provide "additional" capacity. It is not the first breach of the old principle, but it is by far the most blatant,and establishes a dangerous precedent.

A second reason why such generous terms did not need to be extended to private companies bidding for these new treatment centres is that the grip which consultants once held has already been broken. Only this week there was a further report of shrinking private practice in the wake of dramatic falls in NHS waiting lists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,1576629,00.html

Yesterday's story:

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt is preparing to transfer NHS hospital buildings and staff into the private sector as part of a £3bn scheme to promote competition in the health service, the Guardian can reveal.

Documents show that companies bidding for contracts to treat patients from the NHS waiting list will be allowed to take over NHS premises, doctors and nurses.

Initially, they will also be guaranteed a minimum throughput of NHS patients and paid accordingly, even if the patients choose to go elsewhere.
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Many of the 24 contracts involve "significant volumes" of patients and staff transferring from the NHS into the private units.

Doctors and nurses may have little choice if they want to keep their jobs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1575426,00.html

See also Polly Toynbee's comment today: The fight for the centre ground is throttling British politics