Seniors Network

NHS outsourcing... what can we do?

 The commercialisation of the NHS is surging into primary care. You may be aware of plans in your area to transfer clinical services to the private sector. This is part of a new countrywide initiative, which will affect many community health services over the next few months. We believe it will undermine patient care and waste precious public funds. These proposals will be generated locally and we want to encourage local people to respond to them with a strong call to keep these services within the NHS. 

We need your help to find out what’s going on in your NHS and to help people to have their say

The first step is to find out if there are any plans to put NHS services out to tender in your area and whether your Primary Care Trust plans to consult over them. Getting your PCT to agree to a public consultation is a useful first plank in building local public interest and your NHS has legal duties in relation to consultations which can help your campaign - see briefing.

Opinion polls show that the public object to NHS outsourcing, but often they just don’t find out. In every area the public should have the chance to examine and judge outsourcing plans.

 We are therefore asking NHS supporters all over the country to ask their PCT to guarantee that they will consult the public over any transfer of services to a non NHS provider.

 You can do this by using the template letter, drawn up with the advice of the public law firm Leigh Day, on our website. Then send your letter to your local PCT and copies to your Health Oversight and Scrutiny Committee at the council and your local MP. Your PCT should then write back within 20 days. Please send us a copy of the reply that you receive. We will work with Leigh Day to challenge PCTs who refuse to consult.

 What next?

In some areas there are already strong Keep Our NHS Public campaigns. In others we need to build public interest. In the short term encouraging cooperation between local groups that have an interest in health will help. The Federation is approaching national trade unions, KONP branches, pensioner groups, LINKs, patients groups and charities to ask them to join in sending strong anti-privatisation messages as proposals come forward.

 We want to encourage groups and individuals to work together in each area. We will provide them with information to help them campaign, such as a campaign toolkit and the legal briefing on public consultation. We believe that if existing community, patient and NHS staff groups can work together in each area then a powerful message opposing the privatisation of services can be sent to each local PCT, which will be difficult to ignore.

 What else are we doing?

It is important to raise public awareness about how our NHS is cutting back its role in providing care and passing it to profit-driven companies. Unbelievably the government is not keeping a central record of the contracts signed with private companies to run NHS medical and nursing services. Therefore we are building an online map of privatisation which aims to give local people across the country the chance to see who is running their health services and how this is changing.

  We are also building a network of people and groups that want to exchange information about ways to oppose local plans to outsource services across primary care. Email us your contact details to paul@nhscampaign.org so that we can stay in touch. We will send you information and strategies that have worked in other areas, help you connect with other groups and individuals in your area and help to ensure that people in your area find out what is going on and work together.

 In your area does your trust consult the public properly?

Do trade unions, patient groups, charities share information and work together to oppose privatisation?

Do the public know what’s going on?

By joining the NHS Unlimited network, you will connect with the people and information to help defend the NHS in your area.

Keep Our NHS Public AGM and public meeting Saturday 6 June