[A-List] UK corporate state: unhealthy accumulation

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Labour alarm at NHS 'handover'

Private aid for failing hospitals delights Tories

John Carvel, social affairs editor
Friday December 20, 2002
The Guardian

Alan Milburn, the health secretary, delighted the Conservatives and dismayed
Labour traditionalists yesterday when he named eight private companies as
candidates to take over failing NHS hospitals.

The firms, including Bupa and BMI Healthcare, the UK's biggest private
hospital chains, will be asked to compete for contracts to manage NHS
hospital trusts that persistently fail to reach government targets. They
will not, however, be allowed to own the assets or charge patients for
treatment.

The eight companies, including three foreign firms, will be placed on a
"register of experts" alongside 62 top-performing NHS hospital trusts that
won three stars in the government's performance review in July.

All 70 organisations will be asked to compete for franchises to run poorly
performing hospitals. But while the private companies expressed an interest
in doing this work, the NHS trusts were put on the list automatically on the
basis of their star rating.

It was unclear last night how many managers of these trusts may be prepared
to run a failing hospital as well as their own. The NHS Confederation,
representing hospital managers and trusts, warned against "a simplistic
approach ... simply parachuting in a new chief executive is not sufficient
where problems are deeper and more systemic".

The Conservatives welcomed "another step in Alan Milburn's Road to Damascus
conversion to market forces".

Liam Fox, shadow health secretary, said Labour wanted hospitals to be funded
by the private finance initiative and run by private sector
companies."Labour will never again be able to claim with any credibility
that the Conservatives want to privatise the running of the NHS," he said.

Lady Cumberlege, a former Tory health minister in John Major's government in
the mid-1990s, is joint head of Quo Health, one of the eligible private
firms. The company said it was delighted to be on the "coveted" register.

Conservative glee was balanced by criticism from the Labour backbenches.
Frank Dobson, Mr Milburn's predecessor as health secretary, said: "This is a
shameful thing for a Labour government to do. It's the thin end of the
wedge."

He added: "The only possible interpretation is that the government wants a
mixed economy in health care. We have no mandate for this and politically it
is disastrous for Labour. Our supporters will be disillusioned and
irritated."

More than 100 Labour MPs have signed a motion tabled by Mr Dobson
criticising the government's plan to give the most successful hospitals
greater independence as foundation trusts.

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, said: "People did not vote
Labour to see their hospitals handed over to private companies like Bupa."

But Mr Milburn said: "We already have some of the best managers in the
country running some of the best NHS hospitals. We want to share their
skills with underperforming NHS hospitals so we can get the best from both."

He said the first three hospitals to be franchised would be United Bristol
Healthcare NHS Trust, Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust, and the Good
Hope Hospital in Birmingham.

The first two got a zero rating in the performance tables and the Birmingham
hospital was downgraded to zero after its chief executive was sacked for
gross misconduct involving the mismanagement of waiting lists.

The private companies eligible to run franchises also include: Capio
Healthcare, the UK subsidiary of a Swedish hospital operator; Hospitalia
activHealth of Germany; Interhealth Canada; Secta Group, a supplier of
consultancy and support services; and Serco Health, an international
supplier of management.