More time to assess health care takeover

Background checks on the private equity firm that acquired Virgin Care in a shock takeover have thrown up further questions that need to be answered.

A decision on whether to press ahead with the £54-million-a-year contract extension for community health services with HCRG Care Group was due to be made this month but the deadline has been pushed back to June 30 so advisers can carry out due diligence.

Councillors have now been assured they will have the opportunity to scrutinise the deal before it is signed off by Bath and North East Somerset Council cabinet members and NHS commissioners.

The three-year extension to the contract agreed with Virgin Care was put on hold when it was bought out by Twenty20 Capital just two weeks later.

Cllr Alison Born, the cabinet member for adult services, told scrutiny panel members on March 8: “When we took the decision to extend, we did that because we wanted continuity and to avoid disruption. That’s what we still intend to do.

“We want to be absolutely sure about the decision we make and ensure we minimise disruption, get the best for the community and that staff aren’t waking up to discover they’re being run by a different organisation again.”

She added: “We have received the [due diligence] reports but they raise further questions. There’s further work we need to do.

“We need to be very careful about how we go forward so it’s difficult to share huge amounts of information at this stage.

“The original contract extension was supported by this group and our intention is that the decision about the extension will also come to this group.”

Public speaker Barbara Gordon said those who campaigned against awarding the contract to Virgin Care had “clearly been vindicated” because it had been sold to a company aiming to secure “significant returns”.

She asked if HCRG Care Group’s commitment to abide by the terms of the contract could be relied on.

Pam Richards, from Protect Our NHS, said the “secretive” takeover had caused a great deal of “disquiet and concern” and asked if HCRG Care Group had threatened to withdraw if it did not secure the extension.

“The council and the CCG are accountable to the public for how they spend our money and for the quality of the services delivered. The decision making process should therefore be open and transparent,” she said.

Suzanne Westhead, the council’s adult social care director, told the meeting: “We’re not hiding anything from you.

“We just want to make sure that we’ve completed due diligence.

“We want to make sure the contract is robust in whatever decision the council makes.”

She said the panel will have the opportunity to call in the decision if there is not time for it to be scrutinised before it is signed off by cabinet members.

Panel chair Vic Pritchard said: “I think we should be grateful to Alison for making that commitment.

“I hope it’s honoured and we don’t get governed by the chief executive’s take on this, because this is a member-led authority, not an officer-led authority.”

HCRG Care Group has previously offered assurances it will honour the contract and follow the same business plan with the same leadership team in place.

It said it would continue to reinvest any surplus back into service delivery until the contract ends in 2027.