Nurses challenge PCT reforms
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is today issuing a legal challenge to the government’s plans to reform primary care trusts (PCTs) in England.
It wants the government to carry out a full public consultation on its plans to contract out primary care services – and with it, the jobs of some 250,000 health workers – to the private and voluntary sector.
“The RCN is not against reform and never has been. However, we believe the government has to undertake a genuine consultation of their proposed reforms,” said RCN general secretary Beverly Malone.
She said the decision to apply for a judicial review of the way the government had drawn up the plans was “not a step we take lightly” – the RCN is usually non-political, and works to achieve its aims behind the scenes.
“However, we have consistently raised our objections, directly with government, about the lack of consultation on policy and, in spite of assurances from government, nothing has happened,” Dr Malone explained.
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has already come under fire for “sneaking out” the plans in the middle of the summer, and she has expressed regret at the way they were announced.
NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp outlined the new plans in a statement on July 28th saying: “The direction of travel is clear – PCTs will become patient-led and commissioning-led organisations with their role in provision reduced to a minimum.”
Speaking to the Commons on the issue last week, Ms Hewitt said she regretted that the announcement had not been more high-profile, but questioned by MPs afterwards, insisted any staff changes would be made by each individual PCT, subject to local consultation.
“We’ll make area-by-area decisions here – this will not be imposed in a one-size, top-down approach,” she told the health select committee.
She added: “I know there’s been real concern among clinical staff, and that’s why I’ve made it clear publicly and directly to NHS, unions and professional associations, that staff employed by PCTs continue unless and until PCTs locally decide otherwise.”
However, today the RCN argues that this assurance means nothing, coming on the back of the firm statement of intent outlined by Sir Nigel in July.
“The problem here is that people making these local decisions have already had a very clear instruction on July 28th to reduce their provider role to a minimum,” Dr Malone said.
The RCN’s call for a judicial review was backed by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), who urged Ms Hewitt to “have the courage to re-think the impact of these plans”.
Chief executive Phil Gray said: “For the government to expect dedicated healthcare professionals to sit back and wait while existing NHS services are fragmented and distributed around the public and private sector is appalling.”
PCTs currently received about 75 per cent of the total NHS budget, which they use to buy services from hospitals and GPs, and to directly employ nurses and other medical staff.
