The summary articles in the table below related to the strategic health
authority area are copied from the following pages, indicated in the table by
key numbers.
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Summary articles |
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Woman had healthy breast removed after mistake.
Tuesday November 5, 2002 The Guardian [Chesterfield] |
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Where the treatment centres will be. The health secretary, John Reid, today
announced details of the government's controversial programme of privately run
fast-track diagnostic and treatment centres, and a number of new mobile
ophthalmology units. This guide explains where they will be.
Friday September 12, 2003 [South-west peninsula (Mercury Health Ltd),
Lincolnshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Horton hospital, north Oxford
(Mercury Health Ltd), North-east Yorks (Mercury Health Ltd), Southampton
(Mercury Health Ltd), Northumberland (Mercury Health Ltd), East Berkshire
(Slough, Bracknell, Maidenhead and Windsor/Ascot) (Mercury Health Ltd), Didcot,
Oxfordshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Ashford, Surrey (Mercury Health Ltd),
Maidstone (Care UK Afrox), Barlborough Links, Nottinghamshire
(Care UK Afrox), Derriford, Plymouth (Care UK Afrox), Chase Farm, Barnet, London
(Anglo Canadian), King George hospital, Redbridge (Anglo Canadian), Royal
National throat nose and ear hospital, Kings Cross, London (Anglo Canadian),
Bradford (Nations Healthcare), Burton (Nations Healthcare), Daventry (Birkdale
Clinic), Trafford, Greater Manchester (Netcare UK), Royal National Orthopaedic
Hospital, Stanmore (New York Presbyterian), Shepton Mallet, Somerset (New York
Presbyterian).
Two mobile units will offer ophthalmology services in the following areas:
Cheshire and Merseyside (Netcare UK), Cumbria and Lancashire (Netcare UK),
Horton, Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), Wycombe, Bucks (Netcare UK), North Tyneside
(Netcare UK), South-west Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), North-west peninsula (Netcare
UK), Dorset/Somerset (Netcare UK), Kent/Medway (Netcare UK), Hants and Isle of
Wight (Netcare UK), Surrey and Sussex (Netcare UK), Thames Valley (Netcare UK)] |
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Nottingham court told hospital registrar failed in basic duty of care by
ordering wrong drug injected into patient's spine. Helen Carter
Tuesday September 23, 2003 The Guardian |
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Lincolnshire
hospital trust overspend worsens. The deficits of East Lincolnshire PCT
and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust are much greater than previously
predicted, at £19.5m.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC Online 17 January 2006 |
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GPs question
fairness of practice takeover. Derbyshire LMC secretary Dr John Grenville
has raised questions over the takeover of Creswell Primary Care Centre in
Derbyshire by United Health Europe. He said: "UHE have access to data on
patients with chronic conditions as part of their contract with PCTs in Trent.
There was a possibility that they might have been able to use data in putting
their bid together because they would know more about their competitors than
their competitors knew about them. People know UHE have landed a contract and
they just want to know that it's a level playing field. We believe there may be
risks to practices who are good at providing primary care but less good at
putting together bids." Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of
Doctor Update 27 January 2006 |
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East Midlands
trusts battle to lower £50m debt. Attempts to claw back the overspend by
closing wards in Grantham, Stamford and Skegness have provoked protest
marches. Trusts in Leicestershire have admitted they are considering delaying
routine operations. High Peak and Dales PCT in Derbyshire faces a debt of
£2.9m and has cut the hours of the minor injuries unit at Buxton Hospital,
closed wards at the New Holme and Cavendish hospitals and put a freeze on
staff recruitment. In Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City Hospital Trust is
facing a shortfall of £6.3m and has frozen recruitment and closed some wards.
Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 30 January 2006 |
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Patient tackles
medical 'giant'. A Derbyshire patient has started a legal challenge against
a move to replace her local GP surgery with one run by a huge health
corporation. Scarcliffe parish councillor Pam Smith has sent a letter to North
East Derbyshire PCT saying the trust has a statutory obligation to consult if it
makes significant changes to NHS services, something the trust has failed to do
in selecting United Health Europe as its preferred bidder. A trust spokesman
said the service was not being changed, but would not elaborate on that
position. Pam Smith said: "Why does a big firm from America want to move into
our area when we have local practices here already - why give it to a big firm
?" Dr Elizabeth Barrett, a local GP, said: "I think the community is dead
set against it - they are suspicious that a large firm will not serve their
interests." Dr John Lister of the lobby group Keep Our NHS Public said the trust
was not following its own criteria on hiring firms to deliver health services.
He said UHE has virtually no experience in providing health services in the UK
and called for "greater transparency" in the system used to choose service
providers. He called for the Derbyshire County Council health scrutiny committee
to get involved in the process. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 2
February 2006 |
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United they fall.
Reporting the story of UnitedHealth Europe being made preferred bidder to
provide GP services in Derbyshire, Private Eye says: "United is evidently so
keen to break into the UK's new multi-billion pound health market that even a
tiny practice in Langwith can provide a shoe in the door. But local opposition
may thwart its efforts again. The parish council is spearheading the fight which
is gaining support from local councillors and MPs. They all want to know how on
earth a huge multinational with no local knowledge, limited NHS experience and
no staff could possibly win top points for a contract when local GPs were not
even shortlisted. One Derbyshire patient has consulted lawyers about a judicial
review to argue that the decision to let the contract to UHE without consulting
patients or the overview and scrutiny committee of Derbyshire County Council was
unlawful. Further, there are questions about whether United had an unfair
competitive advantage. The year before it was given another NHS contract in the
area to devise "strategy planning". For this it had access to patient data on
both primary care and admission to hospitals." Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Private Eye 3
February 2006 |
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US surgery firm
inundated with applicants for jobs. UnitedHealth Europe, the corporation
that is preferred bidder to provide GP services to two areas of Derbyshire in
the first deals of their kind, claims it has had over 100 applications from
doctors wishing to work for the company. UnitedHealth plans to take over the
Normanton surgery in March or April, and says the contract will be signed in the
next four to six weeks, but the length and value of the contract are still being
negotiated. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Derbyshire Evening Telegraph 3
February 2006 |
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NHS - hands off
our services. Over 100 residents and local health workers attended a meeting
in a former mining village in Derbyshire to oppose the selection of UnitedHealth
Europe to provide GP services. The company is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group
- the biggest private healthcare corporation in the US. John Lister of Keep Our
NHS Public addressed the meeting, saying the choice of United was a step towards
privatising the commissioning role of NHS organisations. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of
Socialist Party 13
February 2006 |
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Legal scrutiny
for private bid. Protesters are seeking a judicial review of the selection
process which awarded a contract to run a Derbyshire practice to United Health
Europe. Dr Richard Smith, UHE chief executive and a former editor of the BMJ,
met local residents and GPs at meetings of the local parish council and LMC to
answer questions about the takeover. One resident compared the situation to the
closure of local pits under an American's leadership of the Coal Board.
Derbyshire LMC secretary Dr John Grenville said: "Their memories go a long way
back. They feel that medical services in the area have not been stable and they
are being used as guinea pigs." Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Doctor
Update 15 February 2006 |
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Second patient
dies following oxygen switch. A second woman has died after chaos in the
system to supply oxygen at home, which was switched to private companies at the
beginning of the month. Moira Brady, 72, from Spalding, Lincs, had to go to
hospital when supplies failed to arrive. She needed three bottles of oxygen a
week, but her husband had been unable to get through by telephone to the
supplying company, Air Products, to find out when her oxygen would arrive. The
day after she died he received a call about a delivery the following day. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of
Telegraph 20 February 2006 |
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Starved of our
oxygen. The privatisation of oxygen supplies has left patients in Derbyshire
struggling. Clive Wildsmith (76), who needs oxygen for 18 hours a day but has
been unable to get through to Air Products, his new supplier, said: "I'm
absolutely livid about it. It's a complete mess. People are in quite a panic."
Another patient is unable to be discharged from hospital due to lack of
supplies. The government says oxygen is still available from pharmacists as a
transitional measure, but Andrew Foskett, of Duffield Pharmacy, says he only has
six cylinders left and he had to "beg, steal or borrow" to get them. He said:
"The Government simply said they were going to stop the contract on February 1
and didn't liaise with us or ask for our help." He also says he knows of one
case where a patient was hospitalised for lack of supplies. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Derbyshire EveningTelegraph 20 February 2006 |
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Anger as bosses
pull plug on centre. The Nottingham City Hospital board yesterday decided
to shut the Cedars rehabilitation centre in Sherwood and move its services to
save £200,000 a year. It was used by four clinical teams - orthopaedic,
neurology, pain management and back problems. Campaigners have vowed to
continue fighting and demanded the board reverses its decision.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 6 March 2006 |
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GP contract is
delayed. A High Court judge has suspended the signing of a contract that
would hand over a Derbyshire GP surgery to a health corporation. An injunction
issued on Tuesday has temporarily stopped the local primary care trust from
letting United Health Europe run the surgery in Creswell.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 7 March 2006 |
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Court holds up
health contract. A court has put on hold the signing of a contract that
would see UnitedHealth Europe, the US-owned company whose European president is
Simon Stevens, Tony Blair's former health adviser, take over a family doctors'
practice in north-east Derbyshire. Pam Smith, a local Labour parish councillor,
argues that the local PCT failed to consult adequately before awarding the
contract, and experienced local bidders were overlooked.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Financial Times 7 March 2006 |
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Judge puts
private GP deal on hold. One of the central planks of the government's
health reforms has been thrown into uncertainty after a judge suspended the
signing of a contract that would hand over a GP surgery to a multinational
corporation. The judgement means United Health Europe, the British arm of
America's biggest healthcare corporation, will now have to face a legal
challenge before taking over a practice in Derbyshire. Alex Nunns of Keep Our
NHS Public said: "This is a key test of government policy. The drive to bring
the private sector into primary care has been presented in terms of patient
choice and community control. But on the ground patients see privatisation, and
they don't like it."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Medical News Today 7 March 2006 |
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Patient takes
Derbyshire GP contract fight to court. North Eastern Derbyshire PCT has
until the end of Monday to convince a judge he does not need to review its
decision to award a GP practice contract to UnitedHealth Europe. Mr Justice
Beatson ordered the PCT to persuade him why a judicial review of the tender
process and subsequent decision is not necessary. The PCT and UnitedHealth have
also been banned from signing the alternative provider medical services contract
to run Cresswell primary care centre during the same period. Local GP Elizabeth
Barrett said: "We discovered that UnitedHealth had scored the highest marks in
'record of engagement with public and patients'. It was not clear how they
evidenced that score. It also scored the highest on the criterion of a 'proven
track record of providing medical services' on the basis that they have one
part-time GP on their management team."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Health Service Journal 9 March 2006 |
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Healthcare
giant's plan for surgery to go ahead. UnitedHealth's takeover of the
Normanton GP surgery in Derby will go ahead despite a court order suspending its
plans to take on another Derbyshire practice in Creswell. The company said that
plans for the Normanton surgery would not be affected by the High Court order
and it was hoping to sign a contract with Derby's primary care trusts in the
next few weeks. Central and Greater Derby PCT said it expects UnitedHealth to
begin delivering services on April 1.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derby Evening Telegraph 10 March 2006 |
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Judge's block on
surgery takeover. A High Court injunction has temporarily stopped NE
Derbyshire PCT from letting UnitedHealth Europe take over a Derbyshire GP
surgery. Pam Smith, who instigated the legal action, said: "UHE seemed to have
become the preferred bidder too easily and residents are concerned standards
might suffer with this company more interested in profits." Alex Nunns, of Keep
Our NHS Public, said: "On the ground patients see privatisation and they don't
like it."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Derbyshire Times 10 March 2006 |
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NHS hospitals are having to repair the damage done during botched operations
on people who have been sent to private centres for hip and knee replacements to
cut waiting lists, it is revealed today. Independent sector treatment centres
(ISTCs) have been set up around the country using mainly surgeons from overseas
to take the pressure off major NHS hospitals by fast-tracking the easiest cases.
But Angus Wallace, professor of orthopaedic and accident surgery at Nottingham
University, writes in the British Medical Journal that "the number of patients
we are seeing with problems resulting from poor surgery - incorrectly inserted
prostheses, technical errors and infected joint replacements - is too great."
Many overseas surgeons, he says, "have been asked to carry out joint replacement
operations that they have never seen or done before". Many of the centres have
contracts to buy just one type of artificial joint - but sometimes it is one
that the surgeon has no experience in using. "It is quite clear that this has
occurred with inadequate training of both the surgeons and the operating theatre
staff and as a consequence there have been several serious errors - joint
replacements put in without bone cement when bone cement was essential for that
joint replacement, the use of the incorrect size heads (ball) for a hip joint
replacement, etc," he writes. Sarah Boseley, health editor
Friday
March 10, 2006 The Guardian
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County's NHS
debt to be cleared. The whole of Lincolnshire's £35m NHS debt will be
wiped out by extra government funding. £83m of additional funding has been
allocated to Lincolnshire's PCTs for next year.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC Online 10 March 2006 |
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NHS bosses
confirm big job cuts. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust acting chief
executive Helen Scott-South has said the number of redundancies that will be
made to cut the trust's debt next year will be "significant".
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC Online 13 March 2006 |
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Health boss
backs reform strategy. Trent SHA has a deficit of £35m and has said jobs
will be axed. Chief executive Alan Burns says major reconfiguration is needed
but Amicus has questioned how the SHA allowed debts to grow from £8m to £35m.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC Online 13 March 2006 |
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Legal action
blocks outsourced practices. A high court judge has temporarily barred
UnitedHealth Europe from signing a contract to take over a GP practice in
Derbyshire. The PCT was served with legal papers on 3 March and has been given
just seven days, rather than the usual 21 days, to respond. The judge also ruled
that UnitedHealth should not sign contracts with the trust until it is clear if
a judicial review will go ahead.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Independent Nurse 13 March 2006 |
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Private firm to
run psychiatric units. In the largest deal of its kind in the country, 119
PCTs led by Nottingham City have signed a £15m agreement with Women's Mental
Health Services to provide medium secure psychiatric care units.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 13 March 2006 |
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The government’s policy of encouraging private corporations to take over GP
surgeries has been dealt a severe blow in the High Court. Late yesterday (16
March) Mr Justice Davis ordered a judicial review into the selection of
UnitedHealth Europe - the British arm of America’s biggest healthcare
corporation - to run a practice in Derbyshire. The decision is a huge setback
for the government. The recent health white paper set out plans to open up
primary care to the market, allowing private companies to run family doctors’
surgeries as well as giving them control of commissioning budgets for patient
care. But in one of the first cases where the policy has been tried it has met
strong opposition.
Keep our NHS Public 17 March 2006 |
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Judicial review
into GP takeover. A High Court judge has ordered a judicial review be
carried out into the takeover of a Derbyshire GP surgery. Mr Justice Davis
granted local patient Pam Smith permission for a review into a decision to
allow United Health Europe to run the Creswell Primary Care Centre. Pam
Smith's solicitor Richard Stein said: "We now hope that the people of
Creswell and Langwith will be able to get the kind of GP service that they
want." The case is expected to go to trial in May.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 17 March 2006 |
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Community Hospitals at risk in Trent SHA
according to
Public Finance 17 March 2006:
Skegness Hospital
Newholme Hospital
Cavendish Hospital, Buxton |
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A hospital ward in Lincolnshire that closed temporarily over the winter
months is reopening ahead of schedule. The Scarborough Ward at Skegness
Hospital will reopen on Monday after being shut for five months. It was
closed by health managers to help recoup a £7m overspend by East
Lincolnshire NHS Primary Care Trust. The decision was fought by local
campaigners who claimed health care would suffer as a result of the
reduction in beds.
BBC
Online 17 March 2006 |
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Judicial review
for GP surgery takeover plans. A High Court judge has ruled that a
judicial review will be held into plans by United Health Europe to take over
Creswell Primary Care Centre.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derby Evening Telegraph 18 March 2006 |
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Court grants
judicial review of decision allowing health care provider to run local
practice. The decision to allow the European branch of UnitedHealth, the
US's biggest health care provider, to take over a general practice in a
former mining village in Derbyshire is to be subjected to judicial review.
The case could have wider implications for the NHS's statutory duty to
consult on service changes at a time when large-scale reconfigurations of
hospital services are expected. The government has signalled its intent to
make consultations swifter, revising the "section 11" requirements for
consultation. The DoH says achieving changes in how services are delivered
is "unnecessarily time-consuming and costly". Alex Nunns of the Keep Our NHS
Public campaign said the government could expect more similar challenges.
"There is a groundswell of opposition from communities...facing the effects
of NHS reforms at the local level. With private companies increasingly
taking over NHS provision, and other services being cut amid huge deficits,
people are using their legal rights to fight the consequences of the drive
to turn the NHS into a market."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Financial
Times 18 March 2006 |
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A British surgeon [in Derby] has invented a wristband that he believes will
make it virtually impossible for doctors to remove the wrong organ during
surgery. It emerged last week that a pensioner had a healthy kidney removed
by mistake during an operation at Ayr hospital in Scotland. John Heron, who
is in his sixties and from Lugton, Ayrshire, was admitted to have his
second, diseased kidney removed. Jo Revill, health Editor
Sunday March 19, 2006 The Observer
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Local heroes.
Patients expressing their choice over local GP provision have won the first
round in their battle to stop an American multinational from running their
doctors' surgery in Derbyshire. Alex Nunns of Keep Our NHS Public said
"patients see privatisation…and they don't like it."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Private Eye 27 March
2006 |
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Judicial review
to examine United Health decision. Patients whose practice is set to
become amongst the first in the country to be run by a US multinational have
won the first round of a legal battle against the move. Dr Elizabeth
Barrett, whose joint bid with a nurse and pharmacist to run the practice was
rejected, said the legal action could set a precedent for the level of local
involvement required by trusts when changing providers: "Our bid had local
support… The government repeatedly talks about creating a patient-led NHS,
yet in reality it is not doing that."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Independent Nurse 29 March
2006 [Derbyshire] |
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Health chiefs
strive to cut costs. Significant job losses are expected to be announced
at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust over the next six weeks.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 31 March 2006 |
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City's two
hospitals join forces. Nottingham's two main hospitals - the Queen's
Medical Centre and Nottingham's City Hospital - will be merged into the
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The new trust expects to cut 10%
of posts.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC
Online 3 April 2006 |
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Merger puts jobs
at risk. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has confirmed up to
1,200 jobs are under threat as the merger of Nottingham City Hospital and
the Queen's Medical Centre goes ahead. The trust chief executive said she is
looking at centralising the emergency departments and elective care, and
reducing the maternity capacity.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 5 April 2006 |
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PCT consults on
future of doctor's surgery. Gedling PCT is consulting patients on the
choice of either closing Colwick Vale Surgery or seeking an alternative
provider to keep it open.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 5 April 2006 |
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Have a say on
hospital bed cuts. Rushcliffe PCT and Notts Healthcare Trust are
consulting on plans to cut the number of beds for the elderly with special
needs in
Nottinghamshire from 217 to 141. The cuts would affect Highbury Hospital
in Bulwell, Lings Bar Hospital, Gamston, and Peasehill Residential Unit in
St Ann's.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 19 April 2006 |
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Unions meet to
discuss job cuts. Unions fear that the last month's warning of cuts from
the United Lincolnshire
Hospitals NHS Trust could mean the end of emergency and acute services at
Grantham and Louth. Peter Savage from Unison said: "In reality we're not
just talking about administrative jobs, we're talking about doctors, nurses,
technicians, porters. The hospitals in Lincolnshire previously went down the
line of trying to save money by getting rid of cleaners, and we saw what
happened - infection rates went right up, it cost them more money in the
end."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC Online 20 April 2006 |
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Audit shows ISTC
failures. More damning evidence of poor quality patient care in
independent sector treatment centres has emerged in the face of Government
denials that such evidence exists. An audit comparing NHS primary joint
replacements at North
Bristol NHS Trust and the private Cheltenham Nuffield Hospital in
2004-05 showed re-operation rates were ten times higher at the latter. Mr
Gordon Bannister, an NHS consultant at Avon Orthopaedic Centre (AOC),
compared 1,754 joint replacement operations at the AOC with 137 in the
Cheltenham Nuffield. The Nuffield's re-operation rate for knee replacements
was ten per cent, compared with the NHS' one per cent. For hips it was 12
per cent, with 0.7 per cent in the NHS. German surgeon Mr Matthias Honl, who
treated NHS patients in Cheltenham, said he had to steal instruments from
another hospital, as those at the Nuffield were inappropriate. Meanwhile
Prof Angus Wallace, of Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre says during two
weeks in March he saw 15 orthopaedic patients from
Barlborough ISTC,
run by Partnership Health Group, with problems due to poor surgery and
inappropriate discharge. 'One resulted in a near death from renal failure,'
he wrote to Health Minister Jane Kennedy.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Hospital
Doctor 21 April 2006 |
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Government points
to end of small GP surgeries. The prime minister's health adviser, Paul
Corrigan, has said that small GP surgeries have had their day and should be
replaced by large enterprises, 'super surgeries' and community hospitals.
Referring to the controversial plans for UnitedHealth Europe to take over a
Derbyshire GP
surgery - now subject to judicial review - Corrigan said that multinational
companies did feature in his vision of the future of GP provision. But they
were not the only examples. GP co-operatives and public benefit corporations
- modelled on foundation trusts - might also provide the organisational
backing required for reform.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Public
Finance 21 April 2006 |
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Children with cancer and leukaemia are among the frontline victims of
sweeping cuts being forced through to contain the health service's
ballooning financial deficits, nurses' leaders
warned last night. The
elderly and those with
mental health problems are also suffering, with the closure of beds in
community hospitals and the reduction in numbers of
specialist nurses needed to
treat them. Nurses' leaders yesterday published a dossier of examples to
back their claims and said their research disproved ministers' assertions
that trusts are seeking to balance their books without any detriment to
patient care. The warning came as Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary,
came under widespread attack for
claiming
yesterday that the NHS had just enjoyed its "best year ever". In a speech to
Unison's health conference in Gateshead today, Ms Hewitt is expected to
offer a stark message that the NHS must "modernise
or die". As part of a coordinated fightback she will say that, after the
additional resources put into the service by Labour over the past few years,
the NHS was now "back in business". Beverly Malone, general secretary of the
Royal College of Nursing, roundly denounced Ms Hewitt, saying that if this
was the best year for the NHS she dreaded to think what a worse one could be
like. Drawing from RCN research, she gave examples of how patient care was
being affected in second tier services for the vulnerable. Among the
examples were:
- Children with cancer and leukaemia in Taunton,
Somerset, are no longer being treated by a community nurse because the
local primary care trust withdrew funding it had promised to the
cancer charity
CLIC. The children now have to make long journeys for treatment, wrecking
their chances of continuing a normal life in their own community.
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Avon and Wiltshire mental health trust has cut the number of beds by more
than 65 to less than 40. The frail and vulnerable have to go further afield
for treatment.
- In the
Cotswolds, 80 community beds have been closed within the last three months
to reduce deficits. A similar number have been lost in
Felixstowe.
- Ward closures in
Skegness has led to patients having to travel 40 miles to Lincoln.
- Minor injuries units are being closed and opening hours reduced.
Dr Malone said: "NHS deficits are hitting patient services; to claim
otherwise is simply wrong. These are real services for real people with real
illnesses, and we have got to stop treating them as statistics on a balance
sheet." Yesterday it emerged that Downing Street received a report from his
delivery unit last week pointing out that prospects for reaching 11 of the
government's 28
health
targets by 2008 were poor. The Department of Health declined to name the
11 targets that received "red traffic lights", but it was understood they
included public health
objectives such as improved sexual health and reduced children's obesity.
John Carvel and Tania Branigan
Monday April 24, 2006 The Guardian |
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Health job cuts
face month delay. Union representatives have said a delay in announcing
job cuts in Lincolnshire hospitals is an insult to
staff. The United
Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust will now reveal the cuts on the week
beginning 29th May, a month later than originally thought. Union
representatives fear the cuts could mean the
end of emergency and acute services at Grantham and Louth.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 25 April 2006 |
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Fears over NHS
outsourcing plans. Hundreds of NHS workers face an uncertain future
because of plans to privatise a distribution centre in
Derbyshire,
according to Unison. About 400 staff are employed at NHS Logistics in
Alfreton which supplies bandages, food, stationery and other products to
hospitals. The preferred bidder to run the privatised operation is DHL/
Novation.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 26 April 2006 |
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DoH intervenes in
court case. The Government is seeking to interfere in a judicial review
seen as vital to the future of ministerial plans to involve the private
sector in primary care. In March, campaigners won the right to a judicial
review into why multinational company UnitedHealth Europe was awarded a
contract to run a two-surgery practice in Creswell,
Derbyshire. the DoH
has applied for permission to put its own arguments on the case, because of
the potential implications of the review's outcome on policies outlined in
the primary care white paper. The review hearing at the High Court is
scheduled for 18 and 19 May.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Doctor Update 3 May 2006 |
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4 |
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Treatment limits
to cut NHS costs.
Smokers and overweight people in
Lincolnshire will
be given lower priority for some treatments as part of measures to
cut costs. Officials have said many treatments for
non-life threatening conditions are not as effective on smokers or the
obese. Plans include closing sexual health clinics for a year and changing
the threshold for IVF fertility treatment so it will only be available to
women under 35. Other treatments highlighted were breast reduction, hip
replacements and hysterectomies. The move does not constitute a ban on these
procedures, but each case will be dealt with individually.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 11 May 2006 |
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Rising tide of
opposition to NHS reforms. Tony Blair's health reforms face a rising
tide of opposition from doctors, nurses, and patients, which threatens to
become a torrent. As nurses hold a rally in Westminster, a new Keep Our NHS
Public group is being launched by patients and GPs in
Derbyshire, where
residents and professionals are united against a decision to hand over their
family doctors' surgery to a multinational corporation. The launch of the
group comes a week before that decision is subjected to a crucial judicial
review at the High Court - a key test for a central plank of the
government's health reforms. And doctors' wider unease is being manifested
in the quiet radicalisation of the British Medical Association. The Junior
Doctors' Conference adopted a resolution on 6 May to support Keep Our NHS
Public. The same motion may now be debated and voted on by the BMA annual
conference in June. Alex Nunns of Keep Our NHS Public said: "The government
now faces opposition to its NHS reforms from all sides - doctors, nurses and
patients. The unifying message is clear - people don't want the NHS to be
commercialised. Nurses are in open revolt; doctors' unease is showing in the
quiet radicalisation of the BMA; and, most significantly, where patients are
gaining first hand experience of Blair's reforms, they are fighting them
through the courts and through grass-roots campaigns."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Medical News Today 11 May 2006 |
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3 |
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Health chiefs
to hear of cutbacks. Plans for cuts in
Lincolnshire's
health service could include night-time emergency services at Boston and
Grantham. Unison has warned there could be as many as 1,000 health jobs lost
in Lincolnshire.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 15 May 2006 |
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3 |
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1200 Jobs at
city hospital face axe. Nearly 450 nursing jobs are to be axed in
Nottingham's hospitals as part of a £60m cost-cutting move. A total of 1,200
posts will go at
Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre - around half by
Christmas. Helen Willetts of the RCN said: "This is one of the largest cuts
of nursing jobs in the country so far." Jenny Leggott, acting chief
executive of the newly-formed Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust,
said: "Clearly it is unlikely this number of posts can be taken out of an
organisation without some impact, no matter how small, on patient services.
There will be some redundancies, we just do not know how many."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 17 May 2006 |
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3 |
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Hospitals'
cuts 'could hit jobs'. The
Derby Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust, which runs the Derby City General Hospital, the Derbyshire
Royal Infirmary and Children's hospitals, has said future staff redundancies
cannot be ruled out to make multi-million pound savings. It needs to make
£15m worth of savings this financial year.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
BBC Online 16 May 2006 |
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Blair's market
madness wrecking the NHS. The Socialist says: "The deprived areas of
Langwith, Creswell and Normanton in
Derby are guinea
pigs in Labour's plan to privatise primary health care… [UnitedHealth
Europe] has little interest in Langwith and probably won't make much money
there. For them the big prize is a head start in bidding for control of the
budgets that pay for hospital treatments… 130 angry people were at the Keep
Our NHS Public meeting in Langwith where speaker John Lister welcomed health
campaigner and Socialist Party member Jackie Grunsell's victory in the
Huddersfield
council election. Along with victories for health campaigners in
Kidderminster, he said: 'When people get a choice they're voting
strongly for candidates that support the NHS.' In a passionate defence of
the NHS founding principles, that treatment should be available to all no
matter where they lived or how much money they had, local GP Dr. Elizabeth
Barrett, said, 'To dismember the NHS limb by limb is an act of social
vandalism.'"
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Socialist 18 May 2006 |
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Primary care -
Jitters as new providers fear marriage of inconvenience. HSJ says: "UnitedHealth
Europe, which became well-known in the UK for its Evercare case-management
model, was recently successful in convincing PCT managers in
Derby that it was
the best contractor
to take over two GP practices. However, it fell foul of a group of
well-organised local patients, parish councillors and local GPs and its
selection by North Derbyshire PCT as preferred bidder is currently subject
to a judicial review." UHE has also been accused of using the sheer size of
its wallet to win APMS tenders. The company's detractors say it is treating
such contracts as "loss leaders" to get its foot in the door. This, claim
critics, calls into question their commitment to local services. UHE UK
managing director Dr Richard Smith is unapologetic: "We've got to make a
beginning, as you have to with any business. We do not expect to lose money
on the contracts we have but you've got to create plans and respond to the
costs." Many potential alternative providers are starting to lose patience
at the mounting costs associated with bidding for APMS contracts. The
national APMS procurement pilot run and funded by the Department of Health
commercial directorate was launched last year. It appears to be backfiring.
One large bidder, Clinovia, which provides community health equipment and
services, has pulled out of the bidding process for one of the six pilot
contracts on offer because of costs. Companies have spent over £100,000 so
far on the tendering process. Richard Smith says the pilot has provided many
lessons ahead of the much bigger programme to procure 30 APMS providers on
behalf of PCTs with under-doctored areas in the summer: "There has got to be
a realistic tendering process. The government worked out how to do ITC
contracts, but now they have got to come up with an appropriate process for
APMS." There is still a perceived lack of clarity about how the commissioner/
provider split will be policed in budget-holding practices - meaning
that there have been calls from some quarters for an independent local
market manager. Choice and contestability require a wide range of services.
If large companies find it easier to enter the market than smaller ones,
plurality will not be taking place. There are concerns that smaller
providers would be unlikely to survive against the likes of UHE and Pfizer.
Birmingham and the Black Country SHA long-term conditions programme
director Paul Murbach has been working on an intensive project over the last
year to test ways in which SHAs can manage and police burgeoning new
markets. The SHA has two out-of-hospital contracts with the independent
sector - one with UHE to provide 'risk stratification data', and one with
Pfizer Health Solutions for self-care support for people with heart
conditions. Murbach says he has had early experience of dealing with a
"potential conflict management" issue when UHE decided to bid for the APMS
contract in Derby. "That raised issues for us because our GPs were concerned
UHE would have an advantage because they have access to
commissioning-support data through their data contract with us." Murbach
says they were able to reassure GPs that the SHA could sue UHE for breach of
contract if evidence was found of any abuse of its privileged access to
data. Meanwhile John Proctor, managing director of Pfizer Health Solutions
UK, says NHS assumptions about the profit-motivated intentions of the
independent sector have been aggravated by government meddling: "We need to
challenge assumptions in the NHS about the independent sector, but it's
difficult when people feel they've had it forced on them, such as in areas
with independent
treatment centres, where people feel the capacity has just been placed
and they're then forced to commission from it."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Health Service Journal 18 May 2006 |
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Private GP deal
faces court test. A judicial review has started into how a US health
firm won the race to run GP services in
Derbyshire. United
Health Europe was chosen as the preferred bidder in January by local health
chiefs to run two practices. The move was expected to herald the start of a
new wave of private involvement in GP care. But campaigners believe private
firms could be put off from bidding for other NHS contracts if the court
rules residents should be given more of a say over local services. Pam
Smith, the local resident and Labour parish councillor at the centre of the
case, said several other local candidates were overlooked by the trust when
it considered who should run the health services. She said: "My parents and
family have paid in to the NHS so it's there for us. We must keep our NHS
public at all costs. The government can't keep bringing in private companies
- it's like sharing the house-keeping money with a stranger. The stranger
will take the money and leave us with nothing. I'd chain myself to the
surgery door before letting United Health in." At the hearing, counsel for
Ms Smith said the PCT had a legal duty to consult patients under section 11
of the Health and Social Care Act, but had made only very limited contact
with the local community. The community had been vociferous in championing
solutions and willing to engage - but found itself in a situation where its
proposals had been rejected in favour of an untested formula. The PCT argued
that as the fundamental nature of the service had not changed, there was no
legal requirement for extensive consultation.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC Online 18 May 2006 |
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Private GP deal
decision reserved. The High Court has reserved judgment on a legal
challenge to UnitedHealth Europe taking over the provision of GP services in
Derbyshire. At the
hearing Javan Herberg, appearing for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, said
the minister was especially interested in the case because the judge's
ruling on whether there was adequate local consultation would affect other
PCTs, and the NHS generally. Mr Justice Collins reserved judgment, saying he
would take time to consider his decision.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC Online 19 May 2006 |
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Can GPs compete
with big business? The decision by North Eastern
Derbyshire PCT to
award a contract for GP services to UnitedHealth Europe is ringing alarm
bells, as the BMJ reports.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
British Medical Journal 19 May 2006 |
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Challenge to US
firms GP deal. A private American company was handed the contract to run
a GP's surgery after a PCT ignored a community's requests to give it to a
local doctor, the High Court has been told. Challenging the decision to
award the contract, Pam Smith argued that North Eastern
Derbyshire PCT went
against residents' wishes by signing a deal with UnitedHealth Europe. She
said that under the Health and Social Care Act 2001 the PCT should have
consulted with residents about the change. If she is successful, it will be
a blow to the Government, which is keen to allow private companies to bid
for the provision of health care services at GP surgery level. David
Pittway, QC for the trust, said there was no obligation for residents to be
consulted in this particular case because the proposed changes did not
amount to an "alteration" of the services offered. The only change was to
the company that provided the services.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Telegraph 19 May 2006 |
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Nurses jobs
cut shock. Lives will be put at risk by shock plans to axe a third of
senior nursing positions at
Chesterfield Royal
Hospital, union leaders fear. The hospital has proposed axing 43 out of 133
positions at the level of ward sister or above, saving £2.3m. Graham
Emberton, Unison regional organiser, said members had reacted with a mixture
of "'anger and tears", adding: "It is all about saving money, but it is
taking out a whole level of staff who have got the experience, knowledge and
skills from working on the wards and departments and can be hands-on when
needed in an emergency. It is bound to affect services to patients and put
lives at risk."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Derbyshire Times19 May 2006 |
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3 |
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Protest march
call over NHS job cuts. Plans for a mass protest march in
Nottingham over the
1,200 job cuts across the area's hospitals have been suggested by members of
the Socialist Party. The party described the £60m cost-cutting exercise as
"a disgrace" and wants to organise the rally to show support for the city's
health workers.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 24 May 2006 |
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Firm hired to run
surgery. Aston Healthcare, a private firm made up of GPs, is to take
over the running of Bull Farm Surgery in
Mansfield on June
1st. The practice, which serves 2,900 patients, has been run by Mansfield
and Ashton PCT in the three years since a previous partner died. According
to the Patient and Public Involvement Forum, initial public concern has
receded and work on a new heath centre in Enterprise Way, which will house
the surgery, has already started.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 27 May 2006 |
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NHS trust
rations IVF to pay its way. North
Lincolnshire PCT is
to suspend fertility treatment and tell patients who are obese or smoke to
tackle their problems before being operated on under plans designed to save
over £1m. The trust is also asking GPs to proscribe cheaper generic drugs
and has not ruled out staff cuts in the future. The cuts come as the
Department of Health continues to insist that NHS deficits are manageable
and will not affect patient care.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Telegraph 1 June 2006 |
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Is the GP market
up for grabs? Encouraged by the government, private firms are targeting
the new market in GP services. Elizabeth Barrett, a GP in
Derbyshire whose
bid for a local practice was overlooked in favour of UnitedHealth Europe,
said: "My fear now is that other GPs will struggle to win contracts because
these big firms want to get involved. That will be a shame. Firms have to
make profits for their shareholders and that leads to care being
compromised, whereas GPs have been trained and worked for the NHS all their
lives, the ethos is different." Paul Evans, of campaign group Keep Our NHS
Public, is also concerned: "In years to come, we could see a handful of big
firms controlling the market just as has happened with the care home
market."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC Online 1
June 2006 |
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Can general
practitioners compete with big business? Dr Elizabeth Barrett writes:
"The Langwith case
reached the High Court over whether there was an obligation to activate
section 11 of the 2001 Health and Social Care Act, in this particular case.1
The act states, among other things, that
patients should be involved in the development and consideration of
proposals for changes in the "way" in which their services are provided. The
national debate on
privatisation is a separate issue, but the publicity given to this case
has been an important part of informing people how the culture and the
drivers are changing in the NHS."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
British Medical Journal 2 June 2006 |
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Help health
workers stop the sell off of NHS Logistics. NHS Logistics has been
targeted for privatisation by the New Labour government under the guise of
an "arms length body". But Unison's
Maidstone
branch, along with four other small Unison branches, in
Alfreton,
Normanton,
Runcorn and
Bury St Edmunds, are fighting the plans and are consulting their members
for strike action. A recent consultative ballot saw 92% vote in favour. Over
2,000 people have signed a petition against the sell off, and now first
rally in Maidstone for over ten years has been organised, under the banner
of the national organisation Keep Our NHS Public. The rally is set to take
place on Saturday 1 July, in Maidstone's Brenchley Gardens next to Maidstone
East railway station. The rally will be joined by those fighting over 300
jobs losses in the Maidstone Hospital Trust and 160 at Medway.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
Socialist Worker 7 June 2006 |
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Village fails to
block US GPs plan. NHS patients and villagers in Langwith on the
Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire
border have failed in their challenge to
private US company
United Health's contract to run their local GP surgery. The villagers
claimed that the consultation process preceding the awarding of the contract
was flawed. However, in a ruling that has widespread implications for the
NHS, the judge Mr Justice Collins stated that while the
consultation was indeed flawed it "would not have been likely to have
made any difference." He went on to suggest that the patients should have
sought an "alternative remedy" to court action though his ruling includes
guidelines on the duty to consult which may have a widespread effect upon
NHS institutions. Anger at the proposals was previously aggravated by North
Eastern Derbyshire PCT's exclusion from its shortlist of a local, council
backed proposal from Dr Elizabeth Barrett. Summary
by Keep our NHS
Public of Liverpool Daily Post 15 June 2006 |
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Private firm is
allowed to give village its GPs. A high court decision yesterday
allowing local GP services to be provided by a US healthcare corporation
gave the green light for the private sector to take control of a large slice
of primary care in England. Mr Justice Collins said he would not stop the
North Eastern
Derbyshire primary care trust awarding a contract to UnitedHealth Europe
to provide family doctors for the people of Langwith, on the
Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border. However, he said the trust had not
consulted local people properly. Sir Ian Carruthers, the acting NHS chief
executive, said the judge's guidance on how trusts should manage tendering
set a framework for increasing competition in primary care. "The trusts
will, I am sure, take this forward," he said. The Department of Health is
understood to be preparing to offer contracts worth £150m-£200m to provide
GP services in 30 poor areas of England. The contracts are expected to
provide about 800 extra doctors, who will compete against traditional GPs to
attract patients. Summary
by Keep our NHS
Public of
Guardian 16 June 2006 |
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US group gets nod
to take over GP surgeries. The high court has given the green light to a
US company taking over doctors' practices in two former mining villages in
Derbyshire in a
move which could lead to a fresh surge in commercial providers of family GP
services. At the same time, the NHS Confederation gave its fullest backing
to date to the introduction of competition in healthcare provision. The
provision of all new services should be contestable unless there was a good
reason for that not to happen, the confederation said. The confederation's
acknowledgement that a much wider range of providers of NHS care is here to
stay was reinforced by the failed attempt to stop the European division of
the US-owned United Health taking over GP services in the villages in
Derbyshire. Dr Martin McShane, the PCT's chief executive, said: "It means
that the monopoly that has been around for the last 60 years [of family
services being provided by traditional GPs] has gone." Sir Ian Carruthers,
the acting NHS chief executive, said he now expected other primary care
trusts "to take this forward in an appropriate way". Existing GPs will be
able to compete for the contracts, although many fear they will lack the
commercial clout to do so. Summary
by Keep our NHS
Public of
Financial Times 16 June 2006 |
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Village to fight
on over US firm's surgery deal. Villagers have promised to fight on
after a judge refused them a judicial review over plans for an
American company to
take over the running of their GP surgery. Although Mr Justice Collins,
in the High Court, agreed with the residents of Langwith,
Derbyshire, that
they were not properly consulted, he did not quash the decision as he found
the residents had not sought an alternative remedy before going to court.
The judge said the North Eastern Derbyshire Primary Care Trust had not
consulted the residents before they named UnitedHealth Europe as the
"preferred provider" for the contract to provide a GP service. He laid down
guidelines on the duty to consult which will affect NHS authorities around
the country. But he said the objectors should have gone first to the local
Patients' Forum. It was "unfortunate" that Pam Smith, the resident who led
the challenge, had apparently not known of its existence. Mrs Smith said she
believed that her community had been let down by the court's decision. "But
we can always appeal and if that fails, we'll be watching the company and
how that surgery is run and I'll be on to them as soon as it goes wrong." A
Health Department spokesman said: "We
will shortly announce steps to give people a stronger voice at all levels in
the health service." Summary
by Keep our NHS
Public of
Telegraph 16 June 2006 |
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Union in plea
over NHS jobs. Union leaders in
Derby have launched
a campaign against NHS cuts to fight bed losses,
redundancies and
privatisation. The campaign run by Unison is also calling for the
government to plug the gap in the area's NHS finances. Andy Belfield,
Unison's regional head of health said: "Private companies are being given
contracts where
they are guaranteed payment, even if they don't perform one single operation,"
and stated a campaign message of "Enough is enough".
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derby Evening Telegraph 19 June 2006 |
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Courts back
private takeover of practice. Health campaigners in
Derbyshire have
lost their fight to block a contract awarded to
private company
United Healthcare Europe to run a practice in the area. High Court judge Mr
Justice Collins ruled against Pam Smith because he said she
should have taken the case to the Patients Forum before bringing
judicial review. However, in his judgment, he also said the consultation
process had been flawed and that PCTs should consult the public in future,
if there was any doubt. He awarded 75% of the costs against the PCT. Lobby
group Keep Our NHS Public, which backed the case, welcomed the judgment as
"a crushing defeat" for the Department of Health as it had established the
need for PCTs to consult the public, even though the case had failed.
Derbyshire LMC secretary Dr John Grenville said he still wanted to know how
UHE had been awarded top scores, having no track record of providing primary
medical services and knowledge of the locality: "It seems perverse that they
should have top-scored." The LMC will lodge a formal complaint with the
Information Commissioner under the Freedom of Information Act to access the
scores if necessary, which were denied to it for the duration of the court
case. Dr Grenville said: "The question remains how the PCT came to its
judgement that UHE was the best of a very large bunch of applicants. Until
we know how they arrived at their decision it is going to be difficult for
future applicants, be they multinational companies or single-handed GPs, to
know what the rules are."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Doctor
Update 21 June 2006 |
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GP warns over
private provider complacency. Dr Frank Barrett has warned GPs not to be
complacent about the threat of private providers. Dr Barrett, a GP in
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, told the LMCs conference the simple loss of a
partner could prompt a PCT to put a practice out to tender. His comments
came after a judge dismissed a judicial review into North Eastern
Derbyshire PCT's
decision to bring in US-based UnitedHealth Europe to run two local
practices. Dr Barrett's wife Elizabeth, a GP in Derby, was a leading
campaigner against the decision after the PCT failed to even shortlist her
bid.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 23 June 2006
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Councillor loses
legal battle over Derbyshire general practice. A high court judge has
ruled that a US owned health management company may take over a
Derbyshire general
practice, despite finding that the local primary care trust failed in its
duty to consult patients who opposed the plan.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of British
Medical Journal 23 June 2006 |
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5 |
Health cuts
threat to rural hospital. The United
Lincolnshire Health
Trust has announced 220 job cuts in an attempt to address a £25 million
deficit and a £1.6 million monthly overspend. It will have shed almost 400
jobs in two years. Unions claimed that 300 other jobs had already gone
through natural wastage and a recruitment freeze. They said that the latest
round of cuts could have a severe effect on services. The trust, which
covers six hospitals in the county, is considering ending maternity services
in Grantham along with all surgery except orthopaedic, forcing patients and
expectant mothers to travel to Lincoln or Boston. The running of accident
and emergency units at Skegness and Spalding could also be taken over by
primary care trusts and reduced to minor injuries units as part of the
plans. Peter Savage, Unison's regional officer for Lincolnshire, said:
"There will be the ridiculous situation with A&
E where they are possibly going to become minor injuries units; you
will be OK if you need a few stitches but if you are a heart attack victim
and you needed to be treated quickly you will have to travel long
distances." Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Telegraph
28 June 2006 |
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Vote to curb
private sector in the NHS. Doctors voted resoundingly against any
further involvement of the
private sector in
NHS health care and sent a strong message to the Government that its reforms
were not working. They have singled out the independent
sector treatment centres, the decision to allow a private company to
provide general practitioner services in
Derbyshire, a
Government plan to let private companies commission health services for
local patients and private management consultants. Yesterday they agreed
that "the BMA actively opposes the Government plans and restates its core
beliefs in the NHS". Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Telegraph
29 June 2006 |
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NHS trusts
slash hundreds of jobs. Two NHS trusts are to axe almost 1000 jobs
between them as they try to balance the books. East and North
Hertfordshire Trust is to axe 10% of its workforce, 500 posts, to save
£18m this year. Earlier, United
Lincolnshire Health
Trust announced 220 job cuts, making almost 400 over two years, in order to
tackle a deficit of £25m and a monthly overspend of £1.6m. Union leaders
described the cuts as a "devastating blow" which takes the total NHS job
losses to 17,000. One of the main reasons for the cuts is, according to East
and North Hertfordshire Trust, the decision by the local PCT under the
payment by results system to reduce the number of cases referred to the
hospital. The equivalent of two to three wards will be lost at the area's
two main hospitals, the Lister and QEII. Campaign group Health Emergency
commented that "A Labour Government that chooses to attack healthcare staff,
and the services they provide, in this callous fashion is not long for this
world." Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Teesside
Evening Gazette 30 June 2006 |
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Former Downing
Street advisor "could make millions from NHS reforms". Simon Stephens,
former advisor to the Department of Health and Number 10, stands to make
large sums of money out of NHS contracts tendered to private organisations,
according to hospital consultants. The NHS Consultants Association has drawn
attention to the former government insider's role as European president of
UnitedHealth, the company that recently won a high-court battle to run GP
practises in Derbyshire,
and which is poised to take over a range of NHS services. NHS staff across
the board have voiced concerns over the introduction of private companies
into the NHS, particularly in the commissioning of services which could put
primary care trust budgets under the control of corporations like
UnitedHealth. Peter Fisher, the association's president, challenged the
choice agenda set out by the government as not relevant to the needs of the
public, and attacked the use of private companies outside areas where it is
difficult to recruit staff, one of the government's key justifications for
using the private sector in the first place. He also warned of "all sorts of
dangers" inherent in greater private involvement in the NHS. However
Patricia Hewitt has maintained that PCTs will be able to choose whether to
farm out their commissioning. While again denying that the government was
trying to privatise the NHS by stealth, she maintained that she would not
back down despite opposition form consultants, NHS staff and Labour MPs. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Independent
1 July 2006 |
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5 |
Carers' pledge to
fight bed cuts. Plans to cut the number of
mental health care beds in
Nottinghamshire
will be opposed, campaigners have said. Rushcliffe PCT wants to cut the
number of mental health and rehabilitation beds from 217 to 141. Relatives
have said moving elderly patients with dementia from Lings Bar Hospital in
Gamston to Highbury Vale in Bulwell would cause distress. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of BBC
Online 5 July 2006 |
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Lynx technology
wins £660,000 contract for surgeries. A
private Derbyshire
firm has won a three-year contract to provide managed support and services
to 90 practises across
Derbyshire. Most of the currently agreed services are IT related,
however further services may be on offer as the contract evolves. Paul
Edgeley, managing director of Lynx Technology said: "This is another great
win for Lynx in the health sector."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derby Evening Telegraph 18 July 2006 |
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Legal challenge
to hospital job cuts. Union leaders have accused bosses at
Chesterfield Royal
Hospital of breaching redundancy laws - and are calling for a halt to
discussions of plans to axe staff. The Trust wants to cut 43 out of around
133 senior nursing and midwife positions, plus ten full-time equivalent
clinical development posts, as part of a £2.7m savings package, with
staffing levels in other departments also set to be reviewed. Union leaders
say that the Hospital Trust has not met statutory requirements by failing to
give advanced notification of the redundancies to the Department of Trade
and Industry and failing to consult with unions on methods for avoiding or
reducing the job losses.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derbyshire
Times 21 July 2006 |
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Hospital's
injuries unit faces closure. A hospital's minor injuries unit is facing
closure because of falling patient numbers and to save money. The trust
believes it could save £153,000 a year by closing the
Heanor unit, which
treats people with minor injuries, such as cuts and broken bones. The Heanor
unit used to open 24 hours a day but the trust decided in December 2003 to
reduce opening hours from 8am to 8.30pm daily. One health worker said the
reduction in opening times had led to the drop in attendance.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derby Evening Telegraph 27 July 2006 |
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Bed cut move for
elderly. Controversial proposals by health bosses to
cut beds for the
elderly have cleared their first hurdle.
Rushcliffe Primary
Care Trust approved plans to cut beds for mentally ill old people in Notts
from 71 to 45. Under the proposals the number of beds for elderly patients
undergoing rehabilitation after illness or injury would also fall, from 146
to 96. The plans will now go before the county's other PCTs.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post
27 July 2006 |
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Beds and jobs to
go at hospitals. Health bosses have announced that 1,184 posts and more
than 180 beds will be axed at
the city's two
hospitals. Nursing and patient groups fear cuts will affect care at the
Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital. Staff have been
bracing themselves for the news since May, when the trust announced it had
to plug a £60m shortfall in its finances.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham
Evening Post 4 August 2006 |
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"Errors" fear for
patients. A package of cuts to services at
Nottingham's
hospitals has elicited anger from unions over plans to have medical notes
typed up overseas. Dave Prentis, General Secretary of public sector union
Unison said: "Lives are being put at risk by hospitals desperate to save
money. Trusts are being wooed by companies promising free trials and pilots
and huge financial savings if they allow medical typing abroad." Queens
Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital have announced the loss of 123
medical secretary posts as they struggle to make up a £60m shortfall. One
local mother whose son is to undergo an operation at the hospital next month
said the move worried her. She pointed out that "the medical secretary I
have been dealing with knows me and my son's history. It is the human
contact that is important." She also voiced fears over the quality of
outsourced notes with easily confusable terms such as hypo and hyper. Mr
Prentis said: "The consequences of typing errors are too frightening to
contemplate. Medical secretaries in the NHS work to 99.8% accuracy targets
and once 'phased out' their knowledge and expertise will be lost forever."
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post 7 August 2006 |
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Help for GPs to
compete on APMS. A PCT that is putting four practices it directly
manages out to tender has pledged to help the incumbent GPs compete with
major private providers.
Salford PCT has promised that managers will assist salaried GPs in
preparing a bid, including giving advice on how how they might be able to
collaborate with other practices or providers. The trust, which plans to set
up Chinese Walls to ensure impartiality, has also promised patients' views
will be taken into account in deciding criteria to judge the bidders'
proposals and in evaluating bids. It has made the pledges in order to avoid
the accusations of bias that have plagued similar tenders in
Sunderland and
Derbyshire. Mike Burrows, chief executive of Salford PCT, said tendering
was the best way to evaluate all models of care, including the private
sector and social enterprise. He said he was acutely aware of the furore
that occurred in Derbyshire and had deliberately taken a more even-handed
approach.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Pulse 11 August 2006. |
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700 hospital jobs
face cut. More than 700 jobs are to go at
Derby's hospitals
over the next two years. A confidential leaked document details a plan to
cut the 7,000- plus workforce by 10 per cent to help plug a £15m deficit.
The same document also reveals that Derby Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs
the hospitals, is facing a £41m funding shortfall over the next five years.
The leak comes only days after the hospitals' director of human resources,
Tony Riley, rubbished union claims that 400 staff could be made redundant by
April next year.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Derby Evening Telegraph 18 August 2006 |
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Bed cut plan
feedback in. Care for the
elderly in
Rushcliffe will move from in beds towards more community care under
plans being finalised by Rushcliffe PCT. The plans include reducing
in-patient rehabilitation beds to 96 to be centred at Lings Bar Hospital and
beds for older people with mental health problems to be reduced to 45 at the
Highbury Hospital site. The cuts will be matched with increased funds for
community care. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of Nottingham Evening Post
22 August 2006 |
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A pensioner has scuppered plans by America's biggest healthcare
company to run a GP
surgery in Derbyshire by winning a case a |