UNISON, the UK’s largest public service union, is preparing to take urgent legal action to protect the NHS from being torn apart. The union says that
NHS Chief Executive, Sir David Nicholson, is pressing ahead with plans that have neither Parliamentary approval nor legal backing.
The move centres around the status of the Government’s latest NHS White Paper that proposes sweeping changes. Sir David Nicholson is accused by the union of pre-empting the result of the consultation and subsequent Parliamentary process by writing to Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and other providers with a series of “actions that we need to start now”.
The letter states that under the present law it is simply unlawful to propose a series of far reaching, top-down changes to the NHS without giving the public, patients and interested parties, including UNISON, a proper opportunity to have their say about the proposals.
The union