Published: 11 August 2009
Just as well Managers are not responsible for deciding the actual Clinical Treatment
NHS Bedfordshire, which is at the forefront of plans to hive off services into ‘social enterprises’, has descended into managerial chaos, Unite, the largest union in the country, has said.
NHS Bedfordshire has appointed a top-flight recruitment company, Hays Executive to recruit three executive director posts. One manager in the finance department is being brought back from retirement, without the post being advertised.
Unite’s Lead Officer for Health in the Eastern of England Region, Owen Granfield said:
“It appears that NHS Bedfordshire has descended into managerial chaos with nearly half its executive posts being vacant and the recently retired being brought back to bolster the managerial structure.
Unite and the other NHS trade unions are very unhappy about this.
NHS Bedfordshire is at the forefront at promoting ‘social enterprises’ - the hiving off of services to new organisations that are one step removed from the NHS.
Managerial upheaval and the misguided embrace of the private sector in the form of social enterprises does not bode well for the future of health services for the people of Bedfordshire.
When the NHS has to watch its finances very carefully, employing a top firm of recruitment consultants is not a cheap exercise”.
Recently, Unite revealed that 1,100 staff - and services for more than 100,000 children and 420,000 older people in Bedfordshire – could come under the ‘social enterprise’ umbrella under plans proposed by Bedfordshire Community Health Services.
Unite is strongly opposed to the marketisation of the NHS, as it:
· puts private profit before patient care
· undermines the ethos of the NHS as a unitary service
· is detrimental to staff and their employment conditions, as social enterprises have to compete commercially for NHS contracts
Unite recently launched The Patchwork Privatisation of Our Health Service – a special report, which highlighted how private companies and social enterprises – with strong government encouragement - are taking over large swathes of the health service, including GP practices, with adverse knock-on affects for patients, clients, and the employment conditions of staff.
Further information
Unite Health Sector
CPHVA website
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