Treating elector with contempt
Services that support NHS General Practice, such as looking after medical records and maintaining practice lists, prescription payments, and screening programmes are to be run from next year by private companies.
Multinationals that have expressed an interest in a £1 billion contract, one of the biggest privatisation deals yet, include the arms manufacturer Lockhead Martin, which makes fighter jets, Serco (already discredited for incompetence over several NHS contracts), KPMG, and the US based law firm DLA Piper.
The present NHS unit will not be allowed to bid, despite having years of experience.
These companies have little or no experience in running GP services but, even more breath-taking is the fact that the contract value is far higher than the current cost, thus guaranteeing a hefty profit for the private companies concerned, at our – the taxpayers – expense.
Thousands of experienced NHS staff will lose their jobs or be reemployed after redundancy payments – very wasteful of precious NHS resources. Again, taxpayers’ money will be taken from front-line care to provide profits.
Despite this latest example, the coalition government is treating the elector with contempt by denying it is privatising the NHS.
I have written to our MP, Helen Grant, asking the simple question - is this privatisation, yes or no? I urge other voters to ask the same question of her and other government minis- ters until we get an honest answer.
Only then can the electorate know whether they are voting for a proNHS party or one that is determined to privatise it. Dr Paul J Hobday Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and the Weald National Health Action Party Churn Lane, Horsmonden