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MP fears ‘two-tier’ Free foundation
LABOUR MP Glenda Jackson has attacked plans by the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead to apply for foundation status next year.
The Hampstead and Highgate MP has opposed foundation hospitals, which have greater autonomy, since their introduction in 2003, saying they are a step towards a “two-tier” system.
Ms Jackson said: “The impression is they are better than other hospitals when they are not.”
She criticised the criteria used by Whitehall to judge whether a hospital should seek foundation status. Ms Jackson said: “The star-rating system is not based on the things that matter to patients. It has nothing to do with the hospital’s ability to treat them.”
She warned that other London hospitals could lose staff if the Free’s bid was successful.
Ms Jackson said: “It could mean other hospitals suffer as they cream off the best doctors, nurses and other staff.”
The Royal Free has turned a 2005-6 budget deficit of £5 million to a predicted surplus of £16 million by the end of March next year. About 100 beds have been closed and nearly 500 jobs axed.
Chief executive Andrew Way said: “Becoming a foundation trust will enable us to involve our staff, patients and local people far more closely in the way our hospitals are run and that means services more in line with the needs of patients.
“We will have more control over our finances, more freedom to use our money where we think it is most needed and the ability to borrow money. This, in turn, means we will be able to continue modernisation at a faster pace.” |
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