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The NHS meeting at Dick Collins Hall |
‘We have big battle on our hands – people power can make difference’
120 pack into hall to voice fears over ‘super-surgery privatisation’ of the NHS
PENSIONERS vowed to fight the privatisation of the NHS in Camden at a packed meeting last night (Wednesday).
Around 120 mostly elderly people filled Dick Collins Hall in Regent’s Park to hear fears over plans to open a super-sized health centre in the Logica Building in Hampstead Road.
Local doctors in south Camden believe the private firms bidding to run the proposed “GP-led health centre”, which will be contracted to register at least 10,000 new patients from the area, will starve them of funding and could force some to close.
Robert MacGibbon, a former doctor of the Cumberland Practice that is threatened by the new health centre, said: “I have talked to my colleagues about this and there is very low morale. They feel under siege.”
He said smaller practices could be forced into bankruptcy by the changes that would then open the door to private firms to take over.
“That is essentially what happened when United Health took over three surgeries last year,” added Mr MacGibbon.
NHS Camden, the unelected body that funds services in Camden, has without consultation drawn up a secret short-list of firms it wants to bid to run the GP-led health centre.
Under the plans, the operators will be gifted a building with state-of-the-art facilities and £20million of NHS cash.
A consortium of local GPs in Bloomsbury has formed a not-for-profit co-operative to bid to run the centre, but it is felt they may not be able to compete with global health giants.
Those at the meeting said the extra funding should be spent on improving existing practices.
One said: “There is not a problem in the first place – why is this happening?”
Wendy Savage, the founder of the Keep Our NHS lobby group, told the meeting the government had been wooed by private health companies.
She said: “We started the campaign because the government seemed intent on commercialising the NHS. Then look at these politicians. Patricia Hewitt, who was the Health Secretary only three years ago, is now working for Boots Alliance. Alan Milburn works for a medical supplier and Charles Clarke has also gone down that path. This just didn’t happen 20 years ago.”
While the debate over tendering processes, the difference between a polyclinic and a GP-led health centre, quangos and international agreements can sound confusing, the message coming from last night’s meeting was clear.
Candy Udwin, who led a campaign that overturned a similar privatisation threat last year, said: “We have a big battle on our hands – but we have already shown that people power can make a difference. This has been a fantastic turnout tonight. It lets them know that we are not going to let them build a mega-centre without a fight.” |
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