Deal will improve healthcare of so many patients

Not for the first time am I staggered by the stupidity of politicians. My incredulity today is aimed at Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport – and I wonder how someone who demonstrates so little attention to detail can get into politics.

Mr Pollard has jumped up and down at the fact that Derriford Hospital has struck a deal with the Peninsula Treatment Centre to carry out all elective orthopaedic surgery. The Treatment Centre is run by Care UK – a private health care company.

Mr Pollard has gone on record as saying: “Giving NHS money to private fat cats instead of spending it on doctors, nurses, and lifesaving drugs is appalling. The decision to bring in private healthcare companies to run core NHS services in Plymouth is deeply troubling. The fact that Derriford has been forced to turn to privatisation of orthopaedics will be concerning for everyone.”

Mr Pollard is entitled to his opinion. But when he goes public, it would be helpful if he got his facts right.

For example Mr Pollard, you seem to conveniently gloss over the fact that a Labour government is responsible for the Peninsula Treatment Centre. Yes, the Peninsula Treatment Centre, along with several others, was set up in 2005 and the arrangements for it were all made by Tony Blair’s Labour Government. Alison Seabeck, Labour MP opened the centre and Ben Bradshaw, as Labour Health Minister visited giving glowing accolades.

The Treatment Centre has been paid by the NHS since 2005 for doing orthopaedic operations. It costs no more to do the surgery at Peninsular than it does at Derriford and staff are paid the same salaries.

Mr Pollard, there’s no story in your comments about funding – they are simply wrong. The Treatment Centre is supplying an excellent service and there’s no evidence of “fat cats” here.

The Treatment Centre has treated many thousands of NHS patients for joint replacements over the last 12 years – over 3,000 a year. In recent years many have been done by existing Derriford surgeons.

And what’s more Mr Pollard, the arrangements with the Peninsula mean that there are ongoing savings to the NHS. Why? Because the swift turnaround of patients means that other conditions that arise through treatment delays are less likely to happen.

What has happened with the Treatment Centre is that in effect Plymouth will have a centre for routine orthopaedic operations just as it used to years ago when such surgery was done at Mount Gould Hospital and trauma was done at Freedom Fields Hospital.

Separating the elective orthopaedic surgery from the trauma makes it easier to plan routine surgery. It ring fences the beds for hip and knee replacement and makes it much less likely that surgery will be cancelled at the last minute. Plymouth is lucky indeed to have an arrangement of this type.

I would be interested to know if Mr Pollard has had relatives or friends put on waiting lists only to get into Derriford to find their case cancelled? God forbid that he should ever suffer that. He’d grasp the chance of being treated at the Peninsula. I watched our old neighbour clinging to the wall to try and get to church when his hips packed up years back.

He was one of the first to be operated on at the Peninsula and could not be more grateful or praiseworthy of the treatment he received.

He joins a chorus of many other people. Ask anyone who has been treated at the centre and I defy you to find a negative response. We should be proud of its fine achievements, not knock them. And if you want more proof then be aware that the Centre has consistently received “outstanding” reports from the Care Quality Commission. In 2016 it was the first of its kind to receive an overall “outstanding” in the entire country. It is achieved 99% in the national Friends and Family survey which asks if patients would recommend the hospital. It has also received ratings for 100% in its records in preventing hospital acquired bugs. The list goes on.

So when Mr Pollard says: “People will be alarmed to hear that Derriford is privatising services without consultation with local people or their local politicians” he really has to realise he’s talking a lot of scaremongering ignorant baloney.

What worries me is that Mr Pollard seems far more interested in stirring up fears among people rather than being positive about a move brought in by Tony Blair that will actually improve the healthcare of so many patients. Politicians should represent their constituents, care for them at every level Disappointingly, Mr Pollard does not seem to think that in his case, this applies. His constituents should take note.

The arrangements with the Peninsula mean that there are ongoing savings to the NHS. Why? Because the swift turnaround of patients means that other conditions that arise through treatment delays are less likely to happen