Charities are being used as ‘the privatisation trojan
horse’ in the NHS
9 November 2009
Hinchingbrooke Hospital
is ‘the guinea pig’
Voluntary sector organisations are being used as the ‘Trojan
Horse’ to break up the NHS, Unite, the largest union in the
country, has said.
The union cites the case of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, near
Huntingdon as being ‘a guinea pig’ as it is currently seeking ‘the
first franchise offer of its kind to find a partner to provide the
full range of clinical and non-clinical services’.
NHS Cambridgeshire and Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS are
inviting third sector, private and NHS organisations to bid for the
franchise, expected to last for seven years.
Unite said that neither its health sector nor its not for profit
members wanted to participate in the break-up of the NHS and the
fragmentation of services.
Owen Granfield, Unite’s Lead Officer for Health in the Eastern
Region, said: ‘It is clear that the NHS in the East of England is
using the region as a guinea pig for various privatisation
initiatives, such as social enterprises. East Anglia is a
laboratory for the right-wing market ideology in the NHS.’
Rachael Maskell, Unite’s National Officer, Not for Profit Sector
said: ‘Charities are being lured into the market place. When the
NHS was founded in 1948, it was recognised that the role of
charities was best served by ‘adding value’ to support services -
not actually delivering them, as this compromises their ability to
be advocates for improvement.’
‘The determination to fragment acute medicine, not to mention
primary care, will put vital, life saving services at risk.’
‘Charities are completely vulnerable with regards to their
financial stability due to the contract culture. We cannot put
lives at risk in what could be unstable market place. Charities are
the Trojan Horse for privatisation.’
- 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 external organisations, such as charities, have to
compete commercially for NHS contracts.
-ends-
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
For further information, please ring:
Owen Granfield 07768 693942; Rachael Maskell 0207 420 8979 or
07768 693933; 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.
Email to a friend
Want to share this story? These sites allow you to tag and share links across the internet enabling you to share these links with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
