Scandal of fundamental changes to Devon’s NHS, which open door to large-scale privatisation, pushed through without public discussion – I have put them on the agenda of next week’s Health Scrutiny Committee
Devon’s two Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are pushing ahead with far-reaching, highly controversial changes to the NHS in the County from 1st April – without alerting the public or even the public watchdog, the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee at Devon County Council.
The changes will turn the Sustainability and Transformation Plan – which itself grew out of the misnamed ‘Success Regime’ which closed our community hospital beds – into a more permanent Devon Accountable Care System. The first phase, in the first part of the financial year 2017-18, will develop integrated delivery systems, with a single ‘strategic commissioner’ for the whole county.
However the real concern is the next phase, which will lead to the establishment of Accountable Care Organisations. These will lead to services being permanently financially constrained, limiting NHS patients’ options for non-acute conditions, and pushing better-off patients even more towards private practice.
Large chunks of our NHS will be contracted out for long periods, probably to private providers. The ‘toolkit’ for this fundamental change talks about ensuring ‘that there are alternative providers available in the event of provider failure’. In the aftermath of Carillion, do we really want most of our NHS contracted out to private firms?
Devon’s public are not being consulted about this change – unlike in Cornwall where the Council has launched a public consultation – and there is no reason to believe that they want a privatised, two-tier health system.
Devon’s CCGs have pushed the change through without publicity, and it is only because I have put it on the agenda that Health Scrutiny will have a chance to discuss in advance of April 1st. I have written a 7-page paper for the Committee outlining what we know about the ACS and posing eight questions which they should ask about it.
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 
January 18, 2018 at 8:58 am
Thanks Martin. Scary times.
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January 18, 2018 at 1:46 pm
here are the email addresses of members of the Scrutiny committee if you would like to stand up for your NHS Thank you Martin Shaw for actually trying to do something about it rather than sleep walking into this deception!
sara.randalljohnson@devon.gov.uk
nick.way@devon.gov.uk
hilary.ackland@devon.gov.uk
john.berry@devon.gov.uk
paul.crabb@devon.gov.uk
rufus.gilbert@devon.gov.uk
brian.greenslade@devon.gov.uk
ron.peart@devon.gov.uk
sylvia.russell@devon.gov.uk
philip.sanders@devon.gov.uk
richard.scott@devon.gov.uk
jeff.trail@devon.gov.uk
phil.twiss@devon.gov.uk
carol.whitton@devon.gov.uk
claire.wright@devon.gov.uk
jeremy.yabsley@devon.gov.uk
pdiviani@eastdevon.gov.uk
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January 19, 2018 at 4:46 pm
you have only hours to make your comments to the highest level of healthcare scrutiny, the parliamentary Select Committee on Health. Only today has the Chair requested Jeremy Hunt to stop any progress towards accountable care organisations until this committee examines the situation of Sustainable Transition Plans
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/health-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/inquiry4/
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January 19, 2018 at 9:47 pm
Thanks, Mike. I have submitted my paper which I prepared for Devon Health Scrutiny, to the Parliamentary Select Committee.
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January 22, 2018 at 6:44 pm
We at Milton Keynes formed a protest march on Saturday to tell the Government to keep our NHS and we don’t want to privatise.
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