[CUPE healthcare list] NHS privatization: Colin Leys presentation and Allyson Pollock article

[Irene Jansen <ijansen@cupe.ca>]

See attached the Allyson Pollock article on the Independent Sector Treatment Centre (ISTC) programme (i.e. private clinics) in England. Highlights:

 

·         The ISTC programme remains highly controversial amid concerns that the centres are destabilizing NHS trusts, forcing service closures, and undermining quality of care.

 

·         The complex payment mechanism, far from transferring risk to the private sector, increases the risks and costs to the health boards.

 

·         If the Scottish findings hold true for wave one in England then up to £927m of the £1.5bn may have been paid to ISTCs for patients who did not receive treatment.

 

·         ISTCs are performing the easiest procedures within the contract.

 

·         The NHS is contractually obliged to buy back £187m of independent centre facilities at the end of the contracts if the providers do not wish to continue operating … Hugh Risebrow, chief executive of the private company Interhealth Canada, which runs two of the wave one centres , said that the independent providers faced potential problems refinancing loans to fund their facilities; the Department of Health may have to step in to support the private sector.

 

See below the link to Colin Leys’ June 2009 presentation “The conversion of the NHS into a healthcare market.” (The link to his PowerPoint is about one-quarter of the way down this page, under Presentations.)

 

http://www.keepournhspublic.com/policybriefings.php

 

Highlights:

 

·         ISTCs were represented as a way to help reduce waiting times for elective care by bringing in additional capacity, but 25% of their staff were drawn from NHS hospitals and this proportion has risen over time. Instead of the promised 170,000 procedures a year, in 2003-2007 ISTCs performed a total of 128,000. Extremely favourable contract terms mean they bear no significant financial or clinical risk. NHS hospitals are left with the high-risk caseload.

 

·         Administrative costs have risen from 5-6% of NHS budget in mid-1970s to about 20% today

 

·         NHS hospital beds cut by 10 % 2004/5 to 2007/8

 

 

Attachment: Pollock_Kirkwood_2009.pdf
Description: Pollock_Kirkwood_2009.pdf