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All 42 ICS to award long-term contractual agreements, enabling further independent sector take-over of NHS services
A new agreement has been struck with the independent sector as part of plans to end the hospital waiting list backlog set out by the Prime Minister today, says the Government. However, there is no secret about Starmer and Streeting's long-term plan of transferring majority of NHS services to the private sector of US-led healthcare companies such as United Health and Circle Health. But, of course the language used in their press release is one of dishonesty: "Hitting the 18-week NHS waiting time standard for operations and other planned procedures is a key part of the government’s Plan for Change. The new deal will mean the NHS makes better use of the independent sector to tackle waiting lists as well as providing millions more appointments itself." This is only possible by awarding contracts to the private sector companies to deliver and take-over NHS services - including the existing NHS nurses and clinicians who are then transferred out of the NHS. This will result in a dumbing down of NHHGS healthcare, greater healthcare errors and avoidable patient deaths, caused by the loss of expertise and experienced staff. The press release continues: "The NHS and Independent Sector Partnership Agreement will help expand capacity and widen patient choice by setting out how more treatments can be delivered through the independent sector, with care remaining free at the point of use. The independent healthcare sector estimate that they have capacity to provide an additional one million appointments a year for NHS patients." But, talk to any of the NHS support groups, staff and experts and they will tell you that this capacity does not actually exist as the private sector does not train their own doctors or nursing staff. NHS doctors work in the private sector and so the same clinician you see at your local hospital is also the same person you would see if going private!
"Mission-led government is about doing things differently. When the waiting lists have ballooned to 7.5million, we will not let ideology or old ways of doing things stand in the way of getting people’s lives back on track. As we deliver our Plan for Change to rebuild the NHS, it would be a dereliction of duty not to use every available resource to get patients the care they so desperately need. That’s why this agreement will make sure working people get greater choice over when and where they receive their treatment, and provide more support to the areas in greatest need.” The press release explains the Government's intentions and claims: The new deal will set out how independent sector capacity can be used to tackle some of the longest waits in specialist areas of treatment, such as gynaecology, where there is a backlog of 260,000 women waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment. However, proof that the intention all along is to transfer as many of the NHS healthcare services to thee private sector, can be seen by the fact that gynaecology and maternity are already being privatised, with maternity hospitals such as the Liverpool Women's Hospital being targeted by the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB for closure, and other maternity hospitals having been closed too. The dishonesty continues in the press release: Orthopaedics will also be a key focus, where over 40% of patients are waiting longer than the 18-week target. The agreement will also give patients in more deprived areas where NHS provision is more limited, a greater choice over where they are treated. Currently, fewer than a quarter of patients recall being offered a choice of hospital for their treatment. The government wants all NHS patients to have the opportunity to choose who cares for them, and through the wider elective reform plans set out today will give them more control over their own care. Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting has taken over £193,000 in gifts from private equity and private healthcare interests, and notably refuses all talk of repealing thee HSC Act 2012 and the H&C Act 2022 which effectively privatises the NHS via stealthily awarding billions of pounds worth of contracts to American owned companies. (See: Private Healthcare Companies Who Pay The Piper, Play The NHS Privatisation Tune?) In this press release Streeting says: “Millions of patients are being forced to wait unacceptably long for treatment, failed by 14 years of neglect of the NHS. This government will pull every lever available to get patients treated on time again. I’m not going to allow working people to wait longer than is necessary, when we can get them treated sooner in a private hospital, paid for by the NHS. If the wealthy can be treated on time, then so should NHS patients. This new agreement will help to cut waiting time faster in parts of the country where the need is greatest, and in gynaecological care where women are left waiting far too long. The steps we have already taken in the first 6 months have seen waiting lists begin to fall. The investment and reform we are now making will ensure we deliver on the Plan for Change and cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks.” The claim in the press release is that the partnership is key to the government’s plans to meet the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients in England will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. The standard has not been consistently met since 2015. However, the true aim of opening up thee NHS to competition and private sector healthcare insurance companies, can be read in this statement: As part of the new agreement, NHS England and the independent sector will:
In other words, tax payers money will be used to fund and develope the private healthcare sector, ensure its profits, and own and run the NHS!
Delivery of extra elective care by the NHS has already been ramping up as the government aims to provide an extra two million appointments, scans and operations in its first year to get patients seen more quickly. And a renewed relationship with the independent sector will help provide patients with a greater choice of providers for tests or scans, paid for by the NHS, so it remains free at the point of use. In reality this is further proof of the long-term aim of handing over profit to private healthcare sector and all paid for by the taxes paid by the British public! But the biggest lie comes from any claim that the NHS is a free service or ever was! The truth of the matter is that this Labour Government is handing the NHS over to private companies, making the public pay for it, and robbing the country of the first major principle of the Labour Party to provide a National Health Service owned by the people and run for the people. NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard makes that clear in the press release: “The independent sector is playing a vital role in supporting hospitals to get on top of the backlog, delivering more than 100,000 elective appointment and procedures every week for the NHS – up by more than half since 2021. But we are under no illusions that we must go further and faster if we want to get the waiting list down to levels last seen in 2015. This new agreement will enable the NHS to make better use of capacity within the private sector where it is needed most, and help us see more patients, free at the point of use.” But the most blatant statement, if not completely honest, comes from the head of the organisation that will benefit, both personally, and professionally, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), who said: “This new agreement is a clear statement from government, the NHS and independent sector that independent providers are a critical part of the NHS’ long-term recovery and renewal. “Independent providers already treat millions of NHS patients every year, and this agreement builds on these strong foundations by making full use of existing capacity in the sector, ensuring that patients are offered proper choice of provider as well as supporting the sector to invest in, and deliver, an even wider choice of high quality services to NHS patients to bring waiting times down - all delivered free at the point of use and paid for at NHS prices.” The last sentence is a complete lie! The agreement has been published alongside the government and NHS’s Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a roadmap to meeting the 18-week standard this Parliament. Click the pic top right to download it from the Unionsafety E-Library. Responding to the Government's elective reform plan to end the waiting lists backlog, Prof Phil Banfield, chair of BMA council, said:
“Doctors have been just as frustrated as their patients by the lack of facilities to deliver care and want to bring waiting lists down, but the reality is that without the workforce to meet constantly rising demand, we will not see the progress we all hope for. To make significant and lasting inroads into the existing 7.5 million waiting list backlog, more is needed than relying on the good will of exhausted staff or new technology." In closing, he made it clear that the solution is NOT Streeting and Starmer's plan: Funding for hospitals and GPs to recruit and retain doctors and the modernising of facilities to utilise their skills efficiently and effectively, are priorities to deal with the chronic burnout that has created the current workforce crisis. Source: Gov.UK / BBC News / BMA See also: NHS: Power To Patients Hides Intended Expansion Of US Private Healthcare Sector
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“The Government has given itself an ambitious goal to end the waiting list backlog that we’ve seen spiral out of control as a result of more than a decade of under-investment in the NHS. Setting out a plan with bold steps to overhaul the way in which patients receive their treatment is a welcome sign that ministers are serious about giving this country the healthcare service it needs. This is no less than patients deserve and new diagnostic centres and surgical hubs, when fully resourced, can be a part of the solution.”