Gloucestershire NHS "SubCo" despite unanswered questions about NHS land, buildings and more
Thursday, 01 March 2018 14:37
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Campaigners furious as Gloucestershire NHS "SubCo" approved despite unanswered questions about NHS land, buildings and more Press Release 01/03/2018 – Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public - Contact: James Beecher 07734 058789.
In the coming weeks Unison and Unite will be conducting separate indicative ballots to find out whether staff are willing to take industrial action on this issue. Today - 1st March 2018 - Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has announced that "The Board has approved the plans to establish a wholly owned subsidiary company (SubCo) effective from 1st April 2018. The company will employ around 675 support staff in estates and facilities, sterile services, and materials management functions". Reacting to the announcement, James Beecher of Keep Gloucestershire's NHS Public said: "We are extremely disappointed to hear this - the whole SubCo proposal and process stinks. The VAT-avoidance is fishy, £200,000 has been budgeted for advice from dodgy private sector consultants, and there's a huge range of unanswered questions including crucial ones about hospital assets, land and buildings. Local NHS bosses have refused to listen not only to concerns raised by us and fellow campaigners-but have ignored over 900 of their own staff who signed a petition against the plans. They've also disregarded advice from the government’s NHS Providers Finance Director - who wrote to NHS Trusts telling them not to pursue VAT-avoidance just last September. We asked several crucial questions about the plans ahead of the decision and have received no answers [see overleaf] - this is sadly typical of a process which has often given the impression that NHS bosses have something to hide. There's been no formal means for the public to comment - if the plans are so great, why have the public been excluded?" Eva Ward, County Councillor for Stroud (Green) added: "As a relatively new member of the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HCOSC) at Gloucestershire County Council, I have been astonished to discover that decisions are often made without the opportunity for advance committee scrutiny. The Subco issue hasn’t been included in previous discussions and the committee depend on hospital staff and their union representatives to keep us informed. It is also difficult to accept that some of the current changes within the NHS and social care are considered to be outside the HCOSC remit. I will be pursuing questions about the SubCo at the next HCOSC meeting on 6th March" The Gloucestershire case was raised in parliament today by Shadow Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jonathan Ashworth who said: “I’m sure you will have seen the news that a Foundation Hospital Trust, in Gloucester, has just announced that it is setting up a wholly owned subsidiary. This is where hospital trusts essentially set up a private company and transfer NHS staff, and indeed assets, into that company. Dozens of hospitals are doing this, or looking at doing this, because of the underfunding of the NHS. It will create a two-tier workforce, thousands of jobs could be transferred – and essentially backdoor privatisation it is. Has the Secretary for Health given you any notice that he will come to the House and explain why underfunding of the NHS is allowing the fabric of a public national health service to be undermined in this way?” Meanwhile, Bath’s Royal United Hospital has decided to postpone any decision on transferring staff to a SubCo, sending a statement to all staff yesterday reading: “we have listened… after careful consideration and discussion the Board of Directors has agreed that more time and information is needed”. This follows a decision by North Bristol NHS Trust to abandon their plans. Notes for editors and links after the "Read more" button:
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