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Richard Smith |
Hospital offers GPs firm boss a platform
MP attacks invitation to UnitedHealth chief
WHITTINGTON Hospital has caused controversy among campaigning patients by inviting the chief executive of UnitedHealth, the private firm which has taken control of three of Camden’s GP surgeries, to give a speech on privatisation in the NHS.
Dr Richard Smith’s work with the giant American healthcare provider is not mentioned on invitations to the lecture, the Sixth Annual Whittington Oration. Instead, he is billed as the former editor of the British Medical Journal .
Invitations distributed last week by Joe Liddane, the Highgate hospital’s new chairman, reveal that the title of Mr Smith’s lecture will be:
Is the NHS being privatised? What of the future for Health Care?
The address is the first to be organised since Mr Liddane took up his new role and follows concern that the hospital is increasingly flirting with the private market in the final stages of its application to become a foundation hospital, which would give it more freedom to run itself.
Allies of former hospital chairman Narendra Makanji have claimed he was ousted because he wanted to stand up for the principles of the NHS.
Among those unlikely to be taking up their invitation to the lecture are Holborn and St Pancras Labour MP Frank Dobson, who said on Monday: “I find it quite extraordinary that they have invited the chief executive of UnitedHealth to give this lecture, given the concern about what happened with the former chairman at the hospital and the quite understandable concern in Camden among patients who did not want UnitedHealth to take over surgeries.”
Wendy Savage, chairwoman of Keep Our NHS Public, said: “I’m shocked but not surprised.
“The message is clear from government that the NHS managers should involve the private sector.
“UnitedHealth has a shocking record but when Camden PCT met to talk about the contracts, the PCT members who spoke denied any knowledge of it.
“I spoke at one of these events at Moorfields once but I haven’t been invited since I got involved with Keep Our NHS Public.”
Dr Smith, who was once a TV personality when he advised on health issues in the days of TV-AM, has been with UnitedHealth since 2004, when he quit his job at the BMJ.
He has repeatedly defended his switch and has spoken at several seminars, where he has maintained that a mixture of public and private services is the only way to take the NHS forward.
Dr Smith said in an article for Pulse, a medical magazine, last year: “I’m confident that the entry of private companies into primary care can improve care for all, but particularly for the poorest. Otherwise, I wouldn’t want anything to do with it.”
But UnitedHealth was given a hostile reception by doctors and patients last month when it took over the running of Brunswick Medical Centre in Holborn and surgeries in Camden Road, Camden Town, and King’s Cross Road, King’s Cross.
The Whittington Oration has gained a reputation for attracting big-name speakers. Past guests include popular psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud, known for his TV appearances, and Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of drug commissioning agency Nice.
A hospital spokeswoman said: “The orations are held each year. Friends and staff of the hospital are invited to attend to debate often controversial and current issues. We would be delighted if Mr Dobson and other partners of the Whittington, including the CNJ, are able to attend to discuss in a public forum the future of the NHS in London – an alternative view.” |
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