- Conference
- 2004 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 2 January 2004
- Decision
- Carried
Conference, concerned at the gradual privatisation of the NHS, believes that the development of Private Diagnostic and Treatment Centres (DTC’s) in particular could have a number of significant disadvantages for the NHS overall and for staff working in DTC’s and in adjoining Trusts.
a)many of the companies operating these centres are unproved and little evidence has been put forward as to why they would be more successful than directly provided services;
b)the nature of the contracts negotiated are unclear in terms of the future role of Acute Hospitals adjoining DTC’s in providing routine treatment and surgery;
c)the DTC’s will potentially “poach” staff from nearby NHS Trusts thus compromising the services they provide.
UNISON calls for transparent assessment in partnership with the Department of Health of the impact of DTC’s on the NHS taking into account the following issues:
i)the effects on NHS staff and in particular the advantages of an agreement on “single tier workforce” across public and private employers in the NHS;
ii)the precise nature of the contracts negotiated with the DTC providers;
iii)a more detailed commentary on the record of the companies associated with DTC provision;
iv)a comparison between the costs (capital and revenue) of DTC’s and direct provisions over an extended period.