Fears for patient care and jobs

The double whammy of two key failed NHS policies – privatisation and PFI debt – have contributed to the potential merger of two mid-Anglia NHS trusts – possibly affecting patient care and jobs adversely.

Unite is raising these concerns as Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Stamford NHS Trust have agreed to a review of ‘organisational form’.

Unite’s members at the trusts work in a variety of occupations, primarily in pathology, pharmacy and estates.

Unite is due to meet managers of the trusts tomorrow (January 7) and Friday (January 8), along with other unions, to probe into exactly what this will mean for patient care and jobs at the financially challenged trusts.

“If you look at the back story you can see a double whammy of failure here of two key NHS polices – privatisation and the private finance initiative,” commented Ian Maidlow, Unite regional co-ordinating officer.

‘Very concerned’

“We are very concerned about what this could mean for patient care and also for the jobs of hardworking health professionals who have been caught in the middle of the vicious ideological onslaught on the NHS ethos by the Tories since 2010,” he added.

The Huntingdon hospital was the first in the NHS to be run by a private company, Circle, but  it walked away in January last year – and the hospital  was  returned to NHS management in April.

The Peterborough and Stamford trust has been burdened by debt problems caused by a 35-year PFI scheme.

“It is too early to say precisely what changes are being proposed to services, and we will work hard to represent the interests both of our members and the integrity of the services they provide in such a dedicated fashion to the people of Cambridgeshire,” said Maidlow.

“But we fully expect that there will be a detrimental impact on service provision. Whether that will just involve additional travel for patients we are unable to say at the moment.

“We will be meeting senior management of both trusts to ascertain more details about their proposals. Until that happens we will not have the financial figures. The timeline for the approval of the merger is, I understand, April 2016 – which is very quick.”

In December, the National Audit Office disclosed that Peterborough and Stamford hospitals’ debt for 2014-2015 was ÂŁ38.5m, while Hinchingbrooke’s deficit for the same period was ÂŁ11.4m.

In February 2012, Circle took operational control of Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust, but in January last year, it gave up its contract, blaming ‘unprecedented’ increases in A&E attendances and funding cuts.