HINCHINGBROOKE HOSPITAL

The decision to allow Circle Health Care to run Hinchingbrooke Hospital has worrying implications for the future of our NHS. It was taken after the Government changed Labour’s policy on the use of the private sector in the NHS.

Labour introduced NHS preferred provider, where the NHS was given the first chance to bid. The Tory led Government scrapped this immediately after the general election, and has since operated an open tender Any Qualified Provider (AQP) principle.

Hinchingbrooke Hospital has faced financial difficulties for some time. In Labour’s time in Government, efforts were made to bring in a new management team from elsewhere in the NHS. Other regional NHS organisations were approached with a view to taking over the running of the hospital.

When no local NHS organisations came forward, the PCT asked for permission, out of necessity, to look further afield in an open tender process allowing NHS organisations from other areas to tender, along with not-for-profit and private providers.

The process was handled locally by the PCT, and not referred to the Department of Health.

The Labour Government made no decisions on the future management of the hospital or the candidates on the final shortlist but the principles of NHS preferred provider would have continued to guide our approach.

Yesterday’s decision was taken by this Government having introduced different rules on the private sector. It is they who have to account for it.

The Government’s controversial Health and Social Care Bill is firmly based on the open tender, AQP principle. It envisages a very different world in the NHS, where hospitals operate as autonomous business units in a competitive market. That is the policy context in which this decision has been made.

It is not what patients, public or NHS staff want and it’s time for the Government to listen and http://www.dropthebill.com/