10 signatures reached
To: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
End bullying by NHS England
1. Issue a formal warning to the board of NHS England that they must not attempt to use libel laws to silence debate about commissioning in the NHS.
2. Demand that Simon Stevens, CEO of NHS England, describe to the Secretary of State what he knew about this move by the former chair of NHS England and publish Simon Stevens' reply.
3. Issue a public apology to Oxford University Hospitals over NHS England's threats to use the law of libel in its dispute with OUH over the management of PET scanning services at the Churchill Hospital.
Why is this important?
It is unacceptable for NHS England, or any other NHS quango, to bully and threaten service providers who have legitimate concerns about decisions to outsource services to private providers. The decision about PET scanning at the Churchill was, at the least, highly controversial and, at the worst, completely wrong-headed. If NHS England cannot justify its decisions by rational argument it should not try to get its way by bullying.
