Protests over a clinical commissioning group’s decision to put £1 billion of older people’s services out to tender are continuing.
Earlier this month The Commissioning Review reported that Labour candidates, as well as representatives of the unions GMB, Unite and Unison were against the plans for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG.
Protests over a clinical commissioning group’s decision to put £1 billion of older people’s services out to tender are continuing.
Earlier this month The Commissioning Review reported that Labour candidates, as well as representatives of the unions GMB, Unite and Unison were against the plans for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG.
But despite the CCGs assertions that the plans will only improve care for patients, Cambridge People’s Assembly Against Austerity was protesting outside of the local hospital earlier this week.
Bids to provide the services have come from NHS trusts and private companies.
The protesters have raised concerns that the local NHS is becoming steadily privatised.
James Youd, one of the campaigners said: “In Cambridgeshire, the prospect of elderly services being run wholesale by a private company whose bottom line is its shareholders and not our older community is truly shocking.
“Hundreds of Cambridge residents have signed a petition against the privatisation and people we have spoken to are overwhelmingly opposed to it.”
Dr Arnold Fertig, GP lead for the CCG’s Older People’s Programme, said: “The CCG is led by GPs who look after many thousands of older people and we have been looking at how doctors, nurses and other professionals can be supported to improve services for older people by working better together.
“The CCG’s over-riding objective is to improve outcomes and service quality for older people. The current procurement will encourage existing and new providers to think about how they can better integrate services in order to keep people as well as possible.”
