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MP Frank Dobson speaking at the NHS campaign meeting |
Private firms bid to run new NHS centre
New Journal names companies as MP tells of ‘shame’
TWO private firms are among bidders competing to run a “mega doctors’ clinic” in Euston.
The winner of a £20million contract to operate a “GP-led health centre” in the Logica Building in Hampstead Road is due to be decided on Wednesday.
It will scoop up 30,000 patients from the surrounding area, potentially at the expense of long-established doctors’ surgeries.
The shortlist has so far been kept secret but the New Journal understands contenders include Harmoni Ltd and Care UK Plc.
Major investors at Care UK include the former chairman of the British Venture Capitalist Association, John Nash, and the former chairman of the investment bank Merrill Lynch, James Strachan.
Harmoni has won contracts to run health centres and polyclinics across the country. Its turnover grew from £3.5m in 2005 to £73m this year.
The prospect of private firms running the centre has provoked fierce opposition. The contract is also being fought for by a consortium of doctors from south of Camden and the not-for-profit healthcare providers, Camidoc.
Campaigners are calling for NHS Camden – the new name for the primary care trust – to halt the procurement process until a public consultation on wider proposals has ended.
Anger over the issue was clear at a meeting of opponents at the Somers Town Community Centre on Thursday night.
Labour MP Frank Dobson, the former Health Secretary, said: “I am ashamed that the Labour Government is supporting the franchising out of GP practices to private companies.
“It is a ludicrous situation.”
NHS Camden has confirmed it has already met three private companies that might run the health centre – despite launching a three-month public consultation on whether one is even needed just a fortnight ago.
Mr Dobson added: “We need to stop the tendering process immediately. This consultation is a bloody insult to people.”
Lib Dem Jo Shaw said: “I have never seen such an arrogant organisation as the PCT. It does not act on our behalf, and does not listen to our concerns.”
Whittington Hospital radiologist Jacky Davis, representing the British Medical Association at the meeting, said: “We are moving to a system that is about cost, not quality – when the NHS is just a logo. We need to strike before it is too late.”
The PCT’s glossy consultation document includes a straightforward “YES/NO” question on the GP-led health centre.
Camden Keep Our NHS Public chairman Candy Udwin said: “We are saying, ‘stand up and say ‘no’ to this question’.”
• John Carrier, chairman of NHS Camden, will speak to the public at a meeting in Surma Community Centre in Regent’s Park today (Thursday) at 6.30pm. |
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Your comments:
IT is a tribute to the public and professional spirit of its staff that they kept the NHS alive and desperately trying to do its best even when Margaret Thatcher was cutting back on its already inadequate resources in the 1980s and finally trying to turn the NHS into a commercially competitive market. This costly,wasteful and destructive political experiment was roundly rejected by the British people when they overwhelmingly elected the Labour Party to power in 1997. The potential Camden sell-out of the NHS to commercial interests as reported in your columns, should surely prompt us to remind Labour of its Manifesto pledge so emphatically endorsed by the public but still falling far short of implementationAn NHS for the future (Labour Party Election Manifesto) "Our fundamental purpose is simple but hugely important: to restore the NHS as a public service working co-operatively for patients, not a commercial business driven by competition? Yours sincerelyProfessor Harry KeenPresident, NHS Support Federation.
H. Keen
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