- Conference
- 2009 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 10 December 2008
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes that under the banner of Keep the NHS Working UNISON continues to campaign against the damaging effects caused by the marketisation of NHS services and the growing role of the private sector in delivering healthcare. This is particularly important at a time of global financial crisis where governments across the world have been forced to recognise the importance of nationalisation in keeping economies afloat and services running.
Further, Conference notes that despite its welcome commitment to retaining a universal health system free at the point of need, the government continues to pursue policies which actively encourage the increasing use of the private sector in the delivery of services; for example, through the purchaser / provider split and the extension of the choice agenda into primary care.
In addition, Conference notes the increasing consensus between Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat policies in favour of the use of the private sector and the extension of competition. Conservative policies to accelerate marketisation and establish an unaccountable board to run the NHS, and the Liberal Democrat policy to force the NHS to pay for patients to go private would all cause even greater harm to the service, as well as increased threats to the job security and terms and conditions of UNISON members in the workplace.
Conference acknowledges, however, that this is not the case in all parts of the UK. For example, Scotland and Wales continue to deliver health improvements without the need for the internal market or the separation of purchaser and provider functions. ‘Meanwhile the Labour government’s ongoing insistence on competitive tendering, Private Finance Initiative (PFI), internal marketisation, efficiency “savings” and personalised budgets are continuing to damage staff morale, worsen working conditions and hinder our delivery of patient care. The financial costs of PFI alone will have a major impact on NHS finances with a projected £2.3 billion a year due to be paid by Trusts to the PFI companies by 2013/14.’
Conference notes that banks, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, that have been guaranteed massive profits from PFI have also been bailed out by the taxpayer during the credit crunch to the tune of over £500 billion.’
Conference believes the virtual nationalisation of the banking sector in the UK has made the very existence of PFI obsolete. The so called “risks” that were allegedly taken by the private sector consortia on behalf of the taxpayer no longer exist when the government is the major shareholder in the banks that have borrowed the money in the first place.
Conference therefore calls for:
i)The immediate renationalisation of all PFI schemes within the NHS.
ii)The return of all staff employed in existing PFI schemes back into NHS employment
iii)All schemes currently going through the PFI process to be stopped and publicly funded
iv)A block on all pending transfers of staff to PFI consortia.
v)The full publication of each PFI contract for public scrutiny and an end to “commercial confidentiality” in public contracts.
Conference affirms that UNISON’s opposition to marketisation and privatisation is motivated by more than just ideological considerations; such initiatives have a major effect on UNISON’s members working in healthcare with many facing major upheaval as they are forced to contemplate the prospect of being outsourced, made redundant or transferred to independent sector employers contracted to provide NHS services.
‘However, Conference also asserts a clear ideological objection: even if private initiatives did not damage staff conditions, UNISON remains committed to the ideals of the NHS for a service that provides the best in health care for everyone from cradle to grave. Marketisation and privatisation inevitably conflicts with those ideals.’
Conference believes that there should be an end to the use of the private sector so that NHS services are retained in-house and delivered by staff directly employed by the NHS.
Where services have been outsourced, the aim should be to bring them back into the NHS family.
Finally, Conference recognises the new pressures faced by the NHS and those that work in the health service. Changes to policies on “top-up” payments for healthcare (in all parts of the UK) must not be allowed to place nurses and other health staff in the invidious position of operating a two-tier system where a patient in one bed gets a better class of treatment than a patient in the neighbouring bed.
Similarly, Conference notes that the proposed European Commission directive on cross-border healthcare, in addition to leading to greater health inequalities, could potentially have a major impact on health staff who would have to shoulder the additional administrative burden of facilitating the greater cross-border choice envisaged by the directive as part of an increasingly marketised European health system.
Conference also notes that the Government has supported the collapsing banking/finance market, but that PFI and LIFT schemes are apparently at risk because banks are not financing these schemes, and the government is considering underwriting them to prevent public sector building plans coming to a halt.
Conference therefore calls on the Service Group Executive to:
i.support and encourage branches to resist privatisation initiatives and fighting to retain in-house services across all NHS functions;
ii.condemn the pro-marketisation policies of all the main political parties as well as campaigning against the current government’s privatisation and marketisation plans for the NHS;
iii. prioritise campaigning for the nationalisation of PFI/LIFT schemes in the forthcoming year by:
a)Working with both the UNISON Labour Link & GPF committees to ensure that the renationalisation of PFI schemes is a major part of UNISON’s activity in the forthcoming General Election.
b)Discuss with the National GPF Committee the commissioning of a major study of PFI within the NHS and the case for contract transparency, public funding, accountability and renationalisation.
c)Send a motion calling for the renationalisation of PFI to the NEC for consideration at the 2009 TUC conference.
d)Produce campaigning materials for branches to use against PFI and putting the case for renationalisation’
iv.promote closer working between the four countries of the UK to monitor developments in the devolved NHS administrations, share intelligence and showcase practices which adhere to the vision of a publicly-funded NHS with services delivered by directly-employed staff;
v.work to protect staff rights to trade union recognition and facilities, national pay and conditions, and access to training and development;
vi.continue to develop networks to involve stakeholder coalitions including other unions, campaign supporters and community / use