Hinchingbrooke: Stark warning

That Hinchingbrooke Hospital – the first privately run NHS hospital in history—was a complete disaster was further proved today (March 18) after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) concluded the experiment put the taxpayer at grave risk.

 
Private operator Circle won a contract to run the hospital for 10 years, but pulled out in January, just after three years, when it failed to make the hospital financially solvent as it had promised.

 
Not long before, in September of last year, the Care Quality Commission gave Hinchingbrooke an overall “inadequate” rating.

 
Now, the taxpayer will be forced to foot the bill of a privatisation scheme gone horribly wrong – Circle amassed a £7.5m deficit before jumping ship.

 
PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP was scathing in her criticism of the way in which the contract was run.

 
“Despite our warnings about the risks, oversight of the contract by the various parties who had a role was poor and inadequate and no-one has been held accountable for the consequences,” she said, as part of a PAC report published March 18.

 
“As we warned in 2013, the taxpayer has been left exposed by the failure of the Hinchingbrooke franchise,” she continued.
“Circle was not able to make the Trust sustainable and the NHS Trust Development Authority did not take effective action to protect the taxpayer.

 
“It was clear at the time the franchise was let that the Trust would only survive if it secured substantial savings, but the savings projected in Circle’s bid were overly optimistic and unachievable.”

 
Hodge went on to express fears that the mistakes made with Circle’s running of Hinchingbrooke would repeat themselves elsewhere in the health service, which continues to pursue a privatisation agenda.

 
“We are also concerned that lessons on awarding and managing major contracts will not be learnt from this venture,” she said. “The Department told us that no trusts are currently considering an operating franchise model, but the NHS continues to award major, high value contracts.”

 
Unite national officer for health Barrie Brown argued that the PAC’s findings come as no surprise.

 
“The findings by the Public Accounts Committee confirm what we here at Unite have said all along – NHS privatisation doesn’t pay, not for the taxpayer, nor the patient, nor health workers now facing unprecedented pressures,” he said.
“Hinchingbrooke should serve as a stark warning to any future bids for a corporate takeover of a public service. It hasn’t worked now and it won’t work in the future.”