Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is facing a fierce criticism from anti-privatisation campaigners after putting a community hospitals contract out to tender.
Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is facing a fierce criticism from anti-privatisation campaigners after putting a community hospitals contract out to tender.
The contract includes community hospitals, district nursing services, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, and is due to be dropped by Peninsular Community Health next spring, a spokesperson from the CCG, which covers Cornwall, confirmed.
It is undergoing the usual tender process at the moment, and campaigners fear it could lead to privatisation of the services. This includes groups such as: Unite the Union, Unison, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, National Health Action Party 38 Degrees, Keep Our NHS Public, Save Our NHS Cornwall, Keep It In The NHS and Health Initiative Cornwall.
Speaking to Cornish Guardian, the campaign spokesperson Deborah Hopkins said: “There are grave concerns that unless we let the public know what is happening and raise our voices, the commissioning group, the Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group Board, may hand the contract to an out-of-county corporate company like Virgin.”
A spokesperson for NHS Kernow said: “The CCG has taken advice from a number of sources about the most appropriate method of reproviding adult community services from April 2016. These sources include legal firms, Monitor, the Healthcare regulator, and the NHS England New Models of Care team – a team set up to support NHS organisations in the implementation of the integrated models of provision outlined in the NHS Five Year Forward View."
They said that the consensus was that the community health services, with a value of around £78 million, should be put out to tender, to avoid breaching competition law and procurement regulations.
The spokesperson from the CCG told The Commissioning Reviewthat they could not comment further as the tender process is currently underway, but Hopkins believes there are private companies in the tender and hopes Community Health can come back under NHS control with a tender incorporating Peninsular Community Health with Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust.
