The unresolved saga of Care UK’s Walk In Health Centres in Park Ward, Halifax and Todmorden seems like another example of the mess that happens when the government tries to privatise the NHS.
I have put in a Freedom of Information request to West Yorkshire Commissioning Support Services, to find out what’s going on.
This was the message from Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS on 4th July, when they presented a petition signed by nearly 1200 Calderdale residents, to Matt Walsh, Chief Officer of the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
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An example of the increasingly intimate merger of government and corporate interests, former New Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn recently joined Price Waterhouse Coopers to head up a board overseeing the consultancy and accountancy giant’s private health care business, which is moving in on the NHS now that the Health and Social Care Act is in place.
Milburn is also chairman of the European Advisory Board of Bridgepoint Capital, the vulture fund investors behind Care UK, which runs the Todmorden and Halifax walk in health centres and also provides diagnostic services for Calderdale NHS.
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This was the first Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCCG) meeting after the House of Lords approved the NHS ‘section 75’ regulations on 24th April. These hotly-opposed regulations open up the NHS to far more private sector competition. Caroline Molloy, writing on the Open Democracy website, states that
“overturning the NHS Privatisation Regulations was always going to be tough. Nonetheless, the spectacle of Lords with private healthcare interests, voting them through, raises fundamental questions about our democracy.”
Now that these new NHS privatisation regulations are law, how can local campaigners work effectively to keep our NHS public? Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Group is looking for ways to work with Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to protect Calderdale NHS from privatisation. This report is based on notes from Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Group.
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Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees members attended the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) meeting in F Mill, Dean Clough, on Thursday 11th April. This is their report:
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After attending the 14th March Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) meeting on behalf of Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS group, Dr Chris Day said,
“There were about 10 of us at the CCG meeting. We were treated better than last time and were initially allowed to interrupt with questions, which we did. This seemed to get the doctors talking more freely.
How can an organisation funded by Calderdale Council – and, indirectly, central government – be expected to act as an independent, public watchdog for Calderdale Council public health policies, strategies and actions, and for the NHS purchasing decisions of the new Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group?
If you share these doubts, you might want to get in touch with Calderdale Save Our Services and/or your local Councillor.
Calderdale Council has awarded the £302k 2013-2015 contract for Local HealthWatch to Voluntary Action Calderdale, who bid for it in 2012.
The Coalition government’s Health and Safety Act 2012 requires Councils to fund a Local HealthWatch group. This is supposed to be “the consumer champion within the new NHS and social care arrangements, providing influence, signposting and advocacy for service users”, according to a Calderdale Cabinet Report of 10 December 2012. Continue reading
Calderdale Save Our Services and the Calderdale 38 Degrees group lobbied the January 17th meeting of the ‘shadow’ Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and urged them to do their utmost to keep the NHS as a publicly-provided service.
The new Health and Social Care Act requires that on 1st April 2013 Calderdale CCG will take over Calderdale NHS from Calderdale Primary Care Trust, together with Calderdale Council which will take responsibility for public health. The main role of Calderdale CCG is to commission health services – in other words, to decide who will actually provide services to patients and who will get paid for doing this.
There is a widespread public anxiety that these changes will privatise the NHS by the back door.
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