English NHS doesn’t need polyclinics, study shows

So, will New Labour’s plans to open up GP services to big business be halted by the facts? Obviously not, but it is worth noting who the victims will be in this case (aside from the patients who might suffer worse services) it will be middle-income professionals.

Consider also that the English NHS is controlled by the British government. Would an English parliament make it easier to resist corporate takeover of public services? Who knows? But it is interesting that polyclinics are not being considered in Scotland or Wales…

From the BBC:

Average-sized GP surgeries are just as good as “super-surgeries” at providing extra services, a study suggests.

Ministers in England have asked health chiefs to create a network of polyclinics to provide extra care, such as diabetes clinics and minor surgery.

But a Kent-based GP’s study of 384 practices found no difference between the range of extra services offered by standard surgeries and polyclinics.

The government said polyclinics would provide a valuable service to patients.

Every NHS trust in the country has been told to set up at least one polyclinic, with a whole network being created in London.

Ministers believe the super-surgeries are the best way of moving care out of hospitals and into the community.

But the study by Dr Hendrik Beerstecher, who specialises in research, found large surgeries already operating were no better at providing the specialist care the government is so keen on.

He looked at the range of extra services, beyond the average package of GP care, being provided by a range of different-sized practices up to ones serving a population of more than 30,000.

He found small surgeries – classed as having fewer than 6,300 patients – tended to provide less diverse extra services.

But once the threshold of 6,300 was reached – the average size for a practice in England – there was little difference no matter how big the surgery was.

On average, these had between 10 and 11 extra services.

‘No evidence’

Dr Beerstecher, who is not a member of the British Medical Association, the doctor’s trade union body which has campaigned against polyclinics, said: “I am not sure why the government is pushing ahead with polyclinics.

“As the study shows, there is no evidence that they provide more services so why are we having them set up all across the country?”

Dr Richard Vautrey, the deputy chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee, said: “This proves what we have been saying all along – that we should not be rushing headlong into setting polyclinics up.

“GPs have always been innovative. You do not need a big surgery for this to happen.”

Wildcat strikes at oil refineries

Let’s be clear, this is not a racist or xenophobic protest – though, no doubt the fascists will try and jump on the bandwagon. The strikers are not motivated by hatred, but by a fear that they might be lose their jobs in the future.

The contention is not that Italian or Portugese nationals living locally should be barred from employment, but that it is crazy that bosses would bring in workers from overseas before first seeking to take on unemployed people who live near the refinery.

These workers should be praised for defying the anti-union laws which criminalise wildcat action, for breaking the law to defend their living standards.

The BBC reports on the growing protests:

Hundreds of energy industry contractors have walked out at sites in northern England and Scotland in an escalating protest over the use of foreign labour.

The dispute began at the Lindsey Oil Refinery, North Lincolnshire, on Wednesday after a construction contract was awarded to an Italian firm.

Unions said the contract should have been given to British workers.

In a second day of action, 800 people protested outside the refinery as workers from other sites joined them.

Hundreds of contract workers at the neighbouring Conoco Phillips oil refinery took part in Thursday’s action.

Employees at BP’s Dimlington gas terminal in East Yorkshire and its chemical manufacturing plant in Saltend, Hull, also walked out in support of the Lindsey refinery workers.

Unofficial strike action was also taken by workers at Scottish Power’s Longannet power station in Fife.

Total, which owns the Lindsey refinery, said its main refining operations on the 500-acre site remained unaffected by the action.

It also stressed that there would be no direct redundancies as a result of the construction contract being awarded to Italian-based contractor IREM.

Unite union regional officer Bernard McAuley said workers at the refinery had been joined by hundreds of trade unionists and other supporters from around the UK.

He said: “They’ve come from all over the country. We reckon there were almost 1,000 people here today.

“We’ve also had huge numbers of messages of support from people who are incensed by this decision. It’s a total mockery.

“There are men here whose fathers and uncles have worked at this refinery, built this refinery from scratch. It’s outrageous.”

Church leaders in Christmas criticism of “free” market

Credit is due to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales:

“Christianity neither condemns nor canonises the market economy – it may be an essential element in the conduct of human affairs.

“But we have to remember that it is a system governed by people, not some blind force like gravity.

“Those who operate the market have an obligation to act in ways that promote the common good, not just in ways that promote the interests of certain groups.”

Admitting he was “no expert” in economics, he said he was unable to “ignore the damaging consequences of volatile financial markets” on his fellow human beings.

The Cardinal is clearly not an expert, as he freely admits, but his sincere comments are welcome.

To stop the deepening economic crisis and ensure it is not repeated, we need to extend democratic control into the economy, empowering workers to make decisions within and between enterprises. This means an reversal of privatisation, and a proliferation of worker co-operatives in place of joint-stock corporations. it is apparent to people that the super-rich have no morality, and they must give up their power over our economy.

And credit is due to Archbishop Rowan Williams, leader of the Church of England, who has also been critical of the market madness. He urged solidarity with victims of the recession in his Christmas message:

“In the months ahead it will mean in our own country asking repeatedly what is asked of us locally to care for those who bear the heaviest burdens in the wake of our economic crisis – without waiting for the magical solution, let alone the return of the good times.”

Drop the dead dogma – privatisation isn’t efficient or cheap!

Two items from Tribune on health and education show that New Labour are far from burying the failed neo-liberal model.

First, healthcare:

UNISON has urged the government to rethink its whole approach to NHS reforms in the wake of a damning new report on the cost of commissioning and outsourcing in the health service.

The public sector union has called on the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, to concentrate on giving NHS patients the care they need and deserve – as well as ensuring the taxpayer gets real value for money – rather than using health service reforms as a smokescreen to outsource or privatise services and “throw precious money away to the private sector”.

The call comes in the wake of a hard-hitting new report – called Driven by Dogma – from the Office for Public Management. In a damning verdict it says outsourcing in the NHS has failed to deliver value for money, proper patient involvement or improved working conditions for staff.

The Government’s pre-Budget report made much of the potential efficiency savings to be made by the NHS from shared service operations with the private sector. But first hand evidence in the new report, examining the experience of those commissioning and delivering services, reveals that promised cost benefits have failed to materialise and quality has suffered.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “At a time when finances are increasingly tight, the NHS cannot afford to be throwing precious money away to the private sector and wasting time and resources on the complexity of the commissioning process.

“Patients want more involvement in decision-making and staff want to spend more time on providing excellent patient care rather than tendering for contracts.

“Unfortunately, this report shows that the various reforms to outsource or privatise parts of the NHS are working against these goals.”

The union says there are realistic alternatives – Scotland has recently announced it will no longer permit any contract cleaning and Wales has done away with the purchaser-provider split in favour of a more sensible and user-friendly integrated system.

Second, education:

TRADE unions have hit out at plans by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills to privatise parts of the schools inspection service.

According to a leaked memo, Ofsted intends to outsource inspections of early education and childcare provision early next year.

It says privatising early years inspections – which ensure nurseries, pre-school provision, summer play schemes and childminding services are safe and secure and meet educational standards – will “provide better outcomes and save money” but Unison, the PCS and the FDA senior civil servants’ union say the idea is wrong is principle and bad in practice.

Unison national officer Jon Richards said: “It is outrageous that Ofsted is privatising early years inspections. Parents need to have confidence in the inspection system and know their children are safe and will be well cared for.

“There is a very real danger that jobs will go and the quality of inspections will fall if the focus shifts from raising and maintaining standards to cutting costs and making a profit.

“The decision to privatise inspections has serious implications for staff, parents and children.”

PCS national officer Neil March said: “Introducing the profit motive into inspections, combined with the naive belief that ‘the market’ has all the answers, will end in failure and further demoralise dedicated staff. It will lead to corners being cut and a loss of expertise.”

The unions think Ofsted wants to “wash its hands” of staff. Mr Richards said: “It has hundreds of equal pay cases outstanding and this is a crude attempt to deal with the problem as the workers pursuing these claims will be the ones to go.”

Devolution for England, a modest proposal

Here’s my submission to Compass’s How To Live In The 21st Century project:

Devolution for England

“It’s worked in Scotland and Wales!”

Contrary to the opponents, an English parliament would provide constitutional balance within the UK; an English parliament would have a progressive majority.

2. How does it fit with Compass’ core beliefs of equality, solidarity, democracy, freedom, sustainability and well being?

An English parliament would give England the same kind of representation that Scotland and Wales were granted in the late nineties and put an end to the anomaly of England-only laws being voted on by MPs whose constituencies lie in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

It would allow the articulation of a civic conception of English national identity – based not on race and exclusion, but on place and participation – as has happened to some extent in Scotland and Wales.

The arguments against: it would make no difference to ordinary people; it would encourage the break-up of the UK; and it would reduce England to Tory domination.

3. How does it build the institutions of social democracy, like social groups and collective and cooperative forms of ownership and control?

An English parliament will provide a focus for those issues that are currently decided by the British government – which is comprised of MPs from across the nations of the UK – issues such as healthcare and education.

The establishment of devolution involved referenda in both Scotland and Wales; there is every reason to expect that there would be a public vote within England on the question of a national parliament and this will reinvigorate a sense of popular soverieignty, perhaps leading to more decisions being made through the use of plebisites.

4. How much will it cost or raise and where will any cost come from?

An English parliament could sit in the Commons at no extra cost.

5. Which groups in the electorate are likely to support or oppose this measure? Is there any polling evidence you have on this?

In November 2006, an Ipsos Mori poll for the Sunday Telegraph found 68% support. In January 2007, a telephone survey conducted by ORB (Opinion Research Business) for the BBC last year found that 61% of people in England were in favour. In April 2007, an opinion poll conducted by ICM for the Campaign for an English Parliament found 67% in favour.

Opponents have long suggested that an English parliament would lead to the break-up of the UK, but polling suggests greater support in Scotland and Wales for an English parliament than for either nation’s idependence!

6. Is there a place or country where it’s worked? Please provide some information.

As above, it has worked in both Scotland and Wales.

7. What are the three main arguments in favour/against it?

The arguments in favour: it’s popular amongst the general public who have seen the benefits in Scotland and Wales; it would allow decision-making on issues specific to England; and it would lead to the transformation of the UK into a federal republic.