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Bob Austin |
Challenge puts private health centre on hold
Campaign cheered by judicial review bid
A MAJOR overhaul of doctor services in Camden is in disarray after NHS campaigners forced health bosses to back down over its flagship privatisation project.
NHS Camden, the borough’s Primary Care Trust, has agreed to put on hold plans to sign a £20 million contract with Care UK Ltd to run a health centre in Euston after lawyers filed for a judicial review hearing in the High Court.
Lawyers are said to be “going for the jugular” in a landmark legal challenge that could lead to patients across the country having a fairer say in the future of the NHS.
Solicitors believe it can be proven that NHS Camden has failed in its “legal duty” to consult patients over proposals to open a GP led health centre in Hampstead Road.
The Trust argues it does not need public approval on what would become Camden’s biggest health centre, despite concern among objectors that the centre could starve existing practices of funding and force their closure.
Bob Austin, who lives in Tolmers Square, Euston, has instructed Leigh Day & Co to fight the case. The 78-year-old, a former Labour councillor in Somers Town in the 1990s, said: “I am worried the new GP Led Health Centre will threaten the existence of my GP surgery. Care UK is a large company which will need to make profits out of the NHS, as a result I believe their focus will be on profit, rather than quality of care.
“I should have been given the opportunity to put these views to the trust before it decided whether a GP Led-Health Centre should be opened in my area.”
NHS Camden did not ask patients whether they approved of the centre opening – despite clear advice from former health minister Ben Bradshaw that there should be a thorough public consultation to prove it was required.
Candy Udwin, chairman of Camden Keep Our NHS Public, said: “The consultation has been a sham from start to finish. The PCT have chosen the site, awarded the contract and started advertising for staff before the consultation has even closed.”
Dr Mark Atkinson, chief executive of NHS Camden, said: “No legal case has yet been lodged at the High Court. If that happens, NHS Camden will rigorously defend Camden patients’ rights to the expansion of local GP services, which the GP-led health centre offers.”
Care UK managing director Dr Mark Hunt said: “The proposed Camden service would offer patients immediate access to medical care from 8am to 8pm, 7-days a week. We are responding to a need identified by the PCT and the service would not constitute a threat to local GP services. We are confident that to the majority of people in Camden the service will be a welcome addition to existing services.”
Mr Austin’s costs are being partly met by legal aid but a substantial “community contribution” to the legal fund is required. |
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Your comments:
Some of the private care companies shamed in a BBC Panorama programme of April 9th 2009 (a special edition of the programme, looking at the appalling care standards delivered to older people) included Care UK.
L. Hibert
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