Hundreds say ‘No’ to local NHS privatisation

At last Friday’s meeting of the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group (HMR CCG), the GP-led organisation set to take over the commissioning of NHS services from the existing Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT in April, a petition containing the names of 426 local people was handed in urging the group to call a halt to further NHS privatisation.

From April 2013, the CCG will be responsible for deciding how the health budget is spent on healthcare on behalf of the population of Rochdale borough. GPs and other clinicians will also be responsible for engaging with local people to ensure that the services commissioned are meeting the health needs of the population.

All GP practices in the borough will form part of HMR CCG, which serves a population of approximately 235,800 across the four townships of Heywood, Middleton, Rochdale and Pennines.

Paul Bailey, who attended the meeting on behalf of national campaigning group 38 Degrees together with a dozen supporters, urged the CCG to ensure that patient services are protected and not contracted out to private companies such as Serco, Care UK and Virgin Healthcare as had happened in other areas of the country.

Dr Chris Duffy, CCG Clinical Chairman accepted the petition and although no assurances were given at the meeting, it was said that the interest of pressure groups such as Healthwatch and 38 Degrees was both welcome and desirable at meetings as it was important for the new organisation to engage with local people.

Later in the meeting it was announced that plans for the CCG to move into Riverside were at an advanced stage.

Discussion also took place about the possible formation of a Manchester-wide association of the 12 local CCGs in order to share expertise and discuss current and emerging issues.

With regard to the situation at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which operates services at the Rochdale Infirmary, the CCG briefly discussed the ongoing financial pressures that Pennine was under and the potential risks that this could involve if they failed to take remedial action. Services needed to be maintained despite a projected budget shortfall of between £38 and £60 million.

Lesley Mort, Chief Officer Designate, stressed that any risk only presented itself if Pennine failed to take action and that the Transformation Board was already working on these issues.