Far from reforming the NHS with a view to improving patient safety, the 493 pages of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) and the concomitant £3bn implementation produces the mechanism for awarding ‘NHS contracts’ to the private sector – an extension of corporate welfare.
These private companies carry out NHS functions using a NHS logo, so as far as the ‘end user’ is concerned (formerly called ‘the patient’), the service is being run by the NHS.
This is sold as the private company running the service more efficiently,except somehow this square peg has to fit into the round hole of the fact that the private company has to provide the service at an acceptable level of profit to them. Invariably, they are awarded the contract because they are slick at making pitches.
One of the challenges for the new incoming Labour government will be getting rid of compulsory competitive tendering.
But a difficulty that the incoming government will face is not depriving all those hard-working corporate lawyers from lucrative competition and procurement law work, at a time when their revenues had been soaring and high street firms had been closing down by the day.
Another desirable move would be to ensure that contracts, awarded for ‘best value’, have some sort of ongoing performance management mechanism built in. This is because increasingly contracts of the ‘prime contractor’ variety, where various component contracts are subcontracted out, will be of a long duration. We already know from experience with various private outsourcing contracts that some companies are facing or have faced criminal investigations for fraud.
Some other companies have been directly criticised by MPs for unacceptable performance, such as the handling of welfare benefits.
One of the Dragons in Dragons Den advised in his audiobook that a good business model for ‘sustainability’ makes use of Government grants.
It follows as night follows day that all governments want to offer you low taxes. For example, a homeowner in Sussex with rising property prices with lower taxes might wish to vote Tory. Sod the food banks.
But an interesting situation is now developing where taxes are being used act as corporate welfare handouts for companies awarded outsourcing contracts in the NHS.
In this construct, working for the NHS is seen as inferior, wages in working for the NHS are lower, and there’s no pride for working for the NHS brand. But this is all sold weirdly as an ‘equality of opportunity’ to suit a competitive capitalist market.
And who would dare to rubbish the NHS brand? Let me think.
Before you attack benefit scroungers, time to think where your taxes from all your hard work are in fact going.
