THATCHER AND `SONS`

Getting an answer

                                                Hinchingbrooke  Hospital

 to the basket cases

 

The first NHS  hospital contract to be handed to a private operator has just failed, but sadly, the news has been squeezed out  of the headlines by the Paris terrorism.

That  hospital failure was  significant . It was a failure not much different  from what many people consider the failure of a similar Thatcherite back-to-private operation here in Carlisle, pioneered by the same Labour government.

This was the privatisation of the city  council houses, initiated and supported with cash  by John Prescott, Tony Blair`s deputy and environment secretary.

It was  Mr Prescott`s  cabinet colleague,  health secretary Andy Burnham who decided to go ahead with the now-failed hospital  contract, that of Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire .

The private  company chosen, Circle Holdings has now  pulled out of the Hinchingbrooke contract early,  after mounting losses and heavy criticism of its performance.

In Carlisle, the privatised council houses were handed to the giant Liverpool property organisation, Riverside Housing Association.

Since then, like  Hinchingbrooke , there has been heavy criticism of  Riverside`s performance, particularly its failure to ensure proper  care for  its 6000 tenants and 270 leaseholders.

Circle  blamed its failure on rising numbers of accident and emergency patients and a ten  per cent cent  cut in funding from the government.

But the chief inspector of hospitals has just delivered a damning assessment of Circle` period in charge of  Hinchingbrooke and  decided  to award the hospital a rating of inadequate.

Many Carlisle and Longtown tenants and leaseholders would give  a similar inadequate rating to Riverside.

The failure at Hinchingbrooke has dashed the hopes of those people wanting a national change for the NHS through greater involvement of private firms in what it does.

The failure at Riverside Carlisle has  also dashed many hopes. But many people had warned:we told you so.

The Riverside victims are still suffering in the winter cold, faced with astronomic heating bills they cannot afford and astronomic repair bills they cannot understand.

Critics said Hinchingbrooke  was “ a  basket case” hospital before it was  handed to Circle.  Critics said  the same  about Carlisle council housing before it was privatised and Riverside took over.

Mrs Thatcher and her “sons”,  John Prescott and Andy Burnham all said they had the  answer to the basket cases.

They said they had the answer?

Yes, that is what they said. 

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 532803 or 01228 522277.