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To: The Chair of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Board

Stop the plans to develop a Subsidiary Company (SPV) in Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

We Won! 14/08/18

There has been an announcement this morning from a union whose members were among those going to be transferred to this company which says the Trust has changed its mind.

"At a meeting Monday morning UNISON stewards received confirmation from Director Mark Braden that the Trust has stopped all work, both for now and in the future, on forming a Wholly Owned Subsidiary company."

Thanks to our pressure with the leaflets sent to the Board, and the petition, combined with the voices of local MPs, the staff at the hospitals due to be affected, are very pleased to remain 100% NHS.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/mps-urge-mid-yorkshire-hospitals-trust-to-ditch-staff-transfer-plan-1-9282554

Thanks for getting behind this issue. It shows that when people get together they can effect change for the better. WE WON!!!!!

Follow the lead of Southmead Hospital in Bristol and scrap the plans to set up a subsidiary company (SPV) wholly owned by the MYHT Board.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/southmead-hospital-bosses-scrap-proposal-1157104

Why is this important?

This would be privatisation by the back door.

The company would be outside the NHS publicly owned and provided structure. It would own all the assets, land and buildings transferred to it. This would not be an acceptable disposal of public assets.

At some stage in the future, it will be at risk of an aggressive buyout which will remove all once publicly owned assets building and land transferred with it, into profiteers hands, forever.

It would remove the rights of the workforce to NHS terms and conditions after the statutory TUPE date and in any case, in the event of a downturn in revenue or other ‘financial crisis’ scenario and to new employees.

It would create a 2 tier workforce as new employees will have less security, terms and conditions, holiday rights, sick pay and no access to NHS pension.

This is likely to impact negatively on patient experience if the new workforce is more transient, without the public sector ethos.

It’s a VAT scam? Certainly, it’s worrying that many of the SubCo plans seem to emphasise this VAT “gambit”. Gloucestershire, for example, told staff it would save £35m over 10 years through this ruse, whilst the staff savings were merely “unquantifiable”. And the Department of Health has advised against it. But the biggest similar scheme to date, UnitingCare in Cambridgeshire, collapsed spectacularly – and one of the major reasons (according to both NHS England and the National Audit Office reports) was because the NHS signed the contract on the basis of incorrect advice about their VAT position, meaning an unexpected £5m a year was added to the costs and the arrangement collapsed.

There has been no consultation to date with members of the public and patients.

Privatising cleaning services lead to development of MRSA a study shows.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314890.php
By the time this new move is shown to be a disaster it will be too late. A Special Purpose Vehicle could prove to be a false economy.

We are not opposed to change for the better, but we view the input from management consultants and attempts to privatise NHS services and estates, with suspicion. Please explore other options.
New research shows use of Management Consultants increase inefficiency.
http://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k893.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/jonathan-allsop/time-to-halt-nhs-gravy-train-for-management-consultants
http://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k893

How it will be delivered

In person with a press conference. The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust has a Board meeting on 14 June and we will take the petition, including paper signatures, to that meeting.

West Yorkshire

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

Updates

2018-08-14 15:03:13 +0100

Petition is successful with 160 signatures

2018-08-05 11:47:58 +0100

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/mps-urge-mid-yorkshire-hospitals-trust-to-ditch-staff-transfer-plan-1-9282554

2018-06-01 10:51:18 +0100

The Wakefield campaign about the proposed Wholly Owned Subsidiary or SPV at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/oppose-further-attempts-to-privatise-the-nhs

2018-04-16 21:23:46 +0100

Fifteen trusts in England have already spent £3.2m between them creating wholly owned subsidiaries, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/16/hospital-trusts-accused-of-backdoor-privatisation?CMP=share_btn_link

2018-04-12 07:08:54 +0100

100 signatures reached

2018-04-03 18:30:45 +0100

There is an article about these sorts of companies on the Keep Our NHS Public website here:-https://keepournhspublic.com/news/no-to-subcos-in-the-nhs/

2018-04-02 15:49:10 +0100

On 20 March 2018 at the Health Select Committee...
Mr Bradshaw: This is a bit of a tangent, but on concerns about staff pay and conditions, does the fact that some NHS organisations are pursuing wholly owned subsidiaries, about which there are real concerns when it comes to staff pay and conditions, feed some of that narrative of concern around the models? Can we have your very quick take on wholly owned subsidiaries, which we are very worried about on this Committee
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/health-and-social-care-committee/integrated-care-organisations-partnerships-and-systems/oral/80801.html

2018-03-28 15:30:51 +0100

50 signatures reached

2018-03-27 15:24:27 +0100

There's a letter from campaigners which has gone to Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust about their plan for such a company. You can read it here:-

https://calderdaleandkirklees999callforthenhs.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/urgent-questions-about-our-hospitals-subco-plan-please-sign-letter-to-trust-directors-governors/

2018-03-26 20:29:49 +0100

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is also thinking of setting up one of these things as well!

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dont-transfer-loyal-staff-out-of-the-nhs?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email_thank_you

2018-03-26 19:53:47 +0100

25 signatures reached

2018-03-24 20:48:34 +0000

Please visit us on our stall on Wednesday.

https://m.facebook.com/events/156789288467938/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%222%22%2C%22ref_dashboard_filter%22%3A%22upcoming%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&ref=bookmarks

2018-03-22 22:31:40 +0000

10 signatures reached