An NHS contract worth £750m that collapsed in December after just eight months was effectively signed off by the regulator and NHS England, despite questions about its viability.
The contract – the biggest in NHS history – was the first designed to bring together hospital, mental health services and community care for adults and older people in Cambridgeshire, introducing a single point of contact for patients.
Signed in November 2014 after a 15-month procurement process that cost more than £1m, it was strongly opposed by local campaigners and trade unionists after several private bidders expressed an interest. Opponents feared it would mean transferring thousands of staff into the private sector.
In the end, the contract went to an NHS partnership called UnitingCare. It launched in April last year, promising to cut emergency admissions to hospital, saving millions of pounds. But by early December, all the partners agreed it was not financially sustainable.
In papers submitted to Cambridgeshire county council’s health scrutiny committee, Monitor revealed it had such grave doubts about the project that it only gave it the go-ahead the day before the launch. There were 34 outstanding issues remaining to be negotiated, a hearing of the committee was told last week….read more
Dear Reader,
If you like our content please support our campaigning journalism to protect health care for all.
Our goal is to inform people, hold our politicians to account and help to build change through evidence based ideas.
Everyone should have access to comprehensive healthcare, but our NHS needs support. You can help us to continue to counter bad policy, battle neglect of the NHS and correct dangerous mis-infomation.
Supporters of the NHS are crucial in sustaining our health service and with your help we will be able to engage more people in securing its future.
Please donate to help support our campaigning NHS research and journalism.
Comments are closed.