Unite calls for ballot on Kingston’s plans to hive off NHS services
to a social enterprise
26th October 2009
Unite, the largest union in the country, is calling for a ballot
of staff at Kingston Primary Care Trust (PCT) in Surrey over
proposals to hive off NHS services into a social enterprise.
Unite, along with the other staff side unions, will be asking
managers at the 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.
The call comes in the wake of the Department of Health’s recent
announcement that the NHS should be ‘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.
Managers at Kingston PCT are being asked to reconsider their
plans for a social enterprise, which are commercial organisations,
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 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.
Unite regional officer, Peter Storey, said: "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 VAT when it comes to internal
accounting. That’s unacceptable."
ENDS
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
- Unite has welcomed the government’s statement, made this month,
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: Peter Storey 07958 511
573; Shaun Noble, communications officer (health sector) 020 7420
8951
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