{"id":17017,"date":"2019-01-18T14:58:42","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T14:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17017"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:47","slug":"privatisation-mismanagement-nhs-staff-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17017","title":{"rendered":"Treated with contempt"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Both NHS staff and patients are being treated with contempt, as the lurch toward privatisation continues unabated, and NHS bosses mismanage what little funding the health service has in the midst of a funding crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as stories from this week alone show.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Wednesday (January 16) it came to light that four executive directors at NHS Property Services were paid about \u00c2\u0141180,000 in bonuses in 2017\/18. The payments came in the same year as the company recorded a \u00c2\u014140.9m deficit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The news prompted Unite national officer for health Jackie Williams to condemn NHS Property Services management of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdisgraceful behaviour\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNHS Property Services is meant to be using its expertise to manage its portfolio of 3,500 buildings and should not be used as a conduit to give spectacularly ill-judged bonuses when the NHS is looking for every penny to enhance frontline services for patients,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Car parking charges<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Also on Wednesday (January 16), Unite highlighted how South Tees NHS Trust increased the cost of staff car parking, despite having lost an employment tribunal on the matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last May, Unite won an employment tribunal case on behalf of one of its members who had claimed the trust had increased the cost of staff car parking without negotiation, bypassing normal procedures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tribunal found in the claimant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favour and so after the verdict, Unite began talks with the trust on behalf of other members who were also being unfairly overcharged for parking charges.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Talks to resolve the matter continued into December, when the trust announced it would not refund staff for the extra car parking charges, despite the tribunal ruling. The trust has said that compensating workers for the charges \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is thought to amount to \u00c2\u014110,000 each month \u00e2\u20ac\u201c would open it \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto extensive financial risk\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Pat McCourt accused the trust of treating the tribunal process and staff \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwith contempt\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey have disregarded longstanding negotiating procedures and are acting in a reckless manner which risks the goodwill of staff, who are the backbone of the NHS,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite took a test case, in order not to overburden the trust with a massive employment case. Once the tribunal ruled in Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favour, it was incumbent on the trust to negotiate to ensure that these issues were resolved for the entire workforce,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCourt added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact the trust is trying to plug financial holes in the budget by fleecing its own staff is unforgivable; the trust should accept the tribunal decision and refund all affected staff without delay.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cervical screening privatisation warning<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Unite expressed fears on Thursday (January 17) about the possible privatisation of cervical screening services used by thousands of women in England each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This week marked the deadline of the tendering process for laboratory services involving cervical screening \u00e2\u20ac\u201c successful bidders are to be announced in April, with the full implementation of the HPV programme in 2019 heralding the reduction of 46 laboratories to only nine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe condemned the potential privatisation of such a vital service, saying that it was bad for both patients and staff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe uncertainty facing the current workforce, as a result of possible privatisation, could result in instability and the ability of current NHS providers to be able to deliver a robust service,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe possibility of losing hundreds of skilled, highly qualified professionals from the NHS, thus eroding the science and technical skills base in the NHS, is to be deplored. The impact on thousands of women, who rely on cytology screeners to analyse cervical smear tests, is a huge concern.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBasically, everyone will be kept in suspense until April 12 [when the successful bidders are announced],\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis has resulted in the knock-on effect of posts not being replaced, resulting in further delays in turnaround times at a number of sites.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTurnaround should, ideally, be within ten days, but it widely known that eight weeks is now common place.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has called on NHS England to guarantee that the NHS remains the primary provider for cervical screening services and ensures that there are no job losses as a result of the\u00c2\u00a0laboratory closures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite lead officer for cytology services Gary Owen said that the sudden announcement of a reduction to just nine centres for primary cervical cytology screening was \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba hammer blow to our members working in this vital service\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCompounding the matter is the prospect that our members may be transferred out of the NHS to a private, profit hungry, company, whose paramount interest is putting money into shareholders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pockets,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of our members working in cytology screening are part-time women, with many years of loyal service, and who have a dedicated skills set, so it is hugely disappointing that their future employment faces such an uncertain future.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Wasted procurement costs’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

News of the potential privatisation of cervical screening services comes as NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens called on the government earlier this month to repeal the requirement that the health service tender contracts for care. The requirement was first imposed as part of the Health and Social Care 2012 Act.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was noted in the recent NHS Long-Term Plan<\/a> that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe current rules lead to wasted procurement costs and fragmented provision, particularly across the GP\/urgent care\/community health service workforce\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because of the current rules that compel the NHS to contract out care, last year alone, \u00c2\u01418.7bn of the health service budget was spent on non-NHS providers, the majority of which were private companies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Responding to Stevens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 call to repeal NHS tendering requirements, shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact NHS bosses are now proposing significant changes to the Health and Social Care Act confirms what a wasteful, bureaucratic disaster it was in the first place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Tories must apologise for wasting billions of taxpayers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 money on the privatisation, constant tendering of contracts, top down reorganisation and demoralisation of staff this Tory act ushered in.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both NHS staff and patients are being treated with contempt, as the lurch toward privatisation continues unabated, and NHS bosses mismanage what little funding the health service has in the midst of a funding crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as stories from this week alone show.   On Wednesday (January 16) it came to light that four executive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[29,81],"wps_subtitle":"Privatisation and mismanagement threaten NHS staff and patients","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25621,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17017\/revisions\/25621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}