16/12/10

By Andrew Holt

NHS reforms must shield against privatisation, says the national body for social enterprise.

The Government’s plan for radical extension of social enterprises will only work if commissioners are educated.

Responding to the publication of Liberating the NHS: Legislative framework and next steps by the Department of Health, Ceri Jones, Head of Policy at the Social Enterprise Coalition, today said: “We support the principles of putting patients at the heart of the health service and empowering professionals. We’re pleased that the government listened when the social enterprise movement urged them not to rush these reforms.

"But the Government says it wants a radical extension of the involvement of social enterprise in delivering health services that has been building steadily in recent years. This aspiration will only be realised if commissioning professionals including GPs know the benefits of working with social enterprises to deliver services. These commissioners need training and support.

“The risk is that healthcare professionals resort to a default position of privatisation through a lack of awareness of the other options available to them. The result could be that patients are denied community-led services that deliver what they need, and a key principle within these reforms would evaporate.

“Not providing support for such culture change could scupper the government’s plans and potentially undo the progressive work done and investment made by the Department of Health in recent years to strengthen and build the involvement of social enterprise.”

Mutuals need to be asset locked under ‘Rights to Provide’ scheme 'Under the ‘Rights to Provide’ scheme, public sector workers will have the opportunity to form employee-owned mutuals.

"While we welcome this scheme, without the necessary safeguards there is a danger that the mutuals could be demutualised and sold off to the private sector, reminiscent of what happened to British building societies in the 1980s. All mutuals need to be asset locked to ensure that they operate for the benefit of the public, forever.”

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