Medway health chiefs introducing major NHS changes
12 October 2009
NHS managers in Medway have been accused of pushing through a
radical reorganisation of services ‘by stealth’ – changes that
could affect 250,000 people.
Unite, the largest union in the country, said that Medway
Community Healthcare was trying to make itself into a social
enterprise – a body one step removed from the NHS proper – without
consulting its 1,350 staff properly.
Unite said that such a move would lead to a fragmentation of
services provided by health visitors, speech and language
therapists (SLTs), school nurses and nursery nurses for those
living in the Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester areas.
Unite has called a meeting of its members in Rochester on
Tuesday, 20 October to protest at the proposed reorganisation into
a social enterprise.
Unite argues that these moves to effectively privatise the trust
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 South East Region, Sarah
Carpenter said: ‘These stealth tactics mean that we are dealing
with a secret enterprise, not a social enterprise.’
‘The management is flying in the face of government policy and
Unite is now challenging managers to say whether their
organisation is 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 trust to fail in order to
pave the way for privatisation? If so, this is a scandal that needs
exposing.’
Ms Carpenter said there was also an issue about whether a social
enterprise would pay VAT – a tax from which the NHS is currently
exempt.
At a recent Kings Fund event, Health Secretary, Andy Burnham
painted a scenario that if an 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.
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: Sarah Carpenter 07768 931
303; 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.
