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Out-of-hours doctors win two-year reprieve from axe
But plan for pilot polyclinic raises fears of more privatisation
HEALTH chiefs have thrown a lifeline to a doctors’ co-operative running Camden’s out-of-hours emergency service.
It had been feared the co-operative, Camidoc, could be axed in favour of a private operator as Camden’s Primary Care Trust considered whether to put its contract out to tender.
But, following a public protest, a new deal has now been agreed that will guarantee Camidoc retains its key role until at least 2010.
The PCT’s contracts chief, Liz White, told a trust board meeting on Monday: “We have decided to defer the present tendering process and extend the out-of-hours service for the maximum period. The board has decided that it is simply not the right time to put the service out for tender.”
Campaigners fear the PCT’s willingness to consider links with private firms has already been exposed by the hiring earlier this year of UnitedHealth, part of a major American company, to run three Camden surgeries.
They claimed Camidoc’s new deal was a “significant victory”, but celebrations have been tempered by the emergence of a new plan to open one of the capital’s first polyclinics in Kentish Town.
Polyclinics are controversial new units which would bring hospital outpatient services and GP practices under one roof. Protesters fear that the government will want the polyclinics to be run privately. NHS London claims it has public support for its plans after 51 per cent of respondents to a £15 million consultation programme backed the polyclinic principle.
But at Monday’s meeting it was revealed just 134 people in Camden gave their views, roughly 0.05 per cent of the borough’s population.
Whittington Hospital consultant radiologist Dr Jackie Davis, a founding member of Keep Our NHS Public, said: “It is dangerous to make any decisions based on this level of consultation.
“No matter how good the principle of a polyclinic might be it cannot get away from the government agenda, which is to introduce the private sector into running the health system.”
Dr Stephen Amiel, representing Camden doctors as chairman of Camden’s London Medical Committee, said he supported the principle of federated polyclinics – where existing practices would share services from a central hub – as long as they were not on hospital grounds.
He has applied to the Department of Health for the James Wigg and Caversham practices in Kentish Town to be among 10 proposed pilot polyclinics to be set up across London next year.
He said: “There is a lot to be commended in the polyclinic principle. What must be properly discussed is privatisation. These polyclinics will be put out for competitive tender and will be gift-wrapped to the private sector.
“They are the ones in the running to take over these polyclinics. There is no mention of this in the consultation document.”
PCT chairman Dr John Carrier will tell a meeting of primary care trusts on June 12 that the consultation has proved “a case for change” and that Camden patients support the proposal of federated polyclinics.
He will urge the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, representing 31 PCTs, to consult properly with Transport for London over the changes, which could see patients travelling long distances to get primary care.
Other major changes to health care provision include plans for more midwives, better maternity provision and making hospitals specialise in certain areas. Dr Carrier said: “We will have a public meeting on all of this.”
For more about the analysis of the consultation, visit www.healthcareforlondon.nhs.uk |
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