'Wandsworth NHS' Secretive About Proposed New Health Centre At Clapham Junction

The ongoing saga of 'Wandsworth NHS' proposed new Health Centre, somewhere near Clapham Junction, gets more and more intriguing.
Despite repeated requests to 'Wandsworth PCT', and then the renamed 'NHS Wandsworth', no information has been forthcoming about either, the costs of the project, who will build the health centre, or, how it will be financed.
The tenders for the project had an information day back in October of last year. Who the they were nobody knows, and NHS Wandsworth considers such information a commercial secret,so even the names of the possible bidders are kept from the public.
The contract was to be awarded on 31 March, but clearly something has happened at 'NHS Wandsworth' , and it will not now be awarded for a, 'few weeks.
What is worrying for tax payers is that the contract maybe awarded to a commercial company, someone like 'United Health', the American healthcare company who are trying to gain a foothold in our NHS. They have already, despite widespread local opposition, won the contract for three GP surgeries in Camden.
We certainly don't want our health becoming a commodity that can be bought and sold at the market place.
Another possibility may be that the new Health Centre will be built under a LIFT scheme(Local Improvement Finance Trust).This extremely expensive method of building NHS facilities involves a consortium of private companies doing the construction, and then leasing the property back to the local NHS over a period of twenty five, or so years.The recent example of St John's Therapy Centre,in Battersea, which was built under such a scheme, has cost the tax payers dear. During the period of the lease we will pay back almost five times what it cost to build the Therapy Centre.
So, maybe NHS Wandsworth are being secretive because they don't want the public to know just how their money is being wasted.
The new Health Centre, which they now called GP Led, is due to be up and running in 2009. The clock is ticking ; sooner or later the truth will out, and we will found out just how much this project is to cost us.

New Marks and Spencer Opens In St George's Hospital

The new entrance to St George’s Hospital, or is it 'Marks and Spencer', opened on 25 March. It was described by the Hospital’s Chief Executive as, ‘showing that, the Trust means business’. In his Report to the Trust Board, the CE thanked ‘St George’s Hospital Charity for their generous support of this project’. And well he might –at a cost of two and half million pounds the funding of the new entrance was the biggest single grant ever given by the Charity.

Many have asked was this the right thing to do with benefactor’s money. People leave money to a hospital so that it can continue its good work-not so that it can turn its front entrance into a shopping mall. Of course St George’s Charity is a law until itself-so until such time as the minutes are made available, no one will ever know exactly what kind of discussion, if any, took place about this decision.

So, those that have given money to St George’s in the past and are now no longer with us, can continue turning in their graves over what’s happened to their money.

No sooner had the new entrance opened, but further controversy arose. It would make an ideal setting for table top sales and other money raising schemes for the myriad of small charities and self help groups that abound in St George’s, as they do in every hospital. No problem there you might think-such activities would enhance the Hospital’s image as a part of the community. Not so ! This is not the image that St George’s now wants to project. Hospitals are businesses according to the new ethos-so St George’s must project a ‘corporate image’-hence the need for a ‘company secretary’ at close on to £100,000 pa.

So there is no place for ‘table top’ sales. They are very passé. 'Marks and Spencer' can try and boost their takings by inserting a leaflet in every hospital employee’s wage slip-but the ‘Friends of St George’s, that organisation that works tirelessly for the Hospital’s good -I’m afraid if you want to raise money you will have to do it upstairs near the restaurant , far away from any of the thousands of potential customers that flock through St George’s doors every day.

This is the new corporate world of St George’s In the eyes of some; health is a business, just like any other.

Mitie Set To Clean Up At St George's Hospital

"I am delighted to announce that 2008 has been another year of strong growth for MITIE. This year was our 20th year of revenue and profits growth”
That was part of the opening statement of the chief executive of the Mitie Group of companies at last year’s AGM. In fact, even in this time of economic crisis, the Mitie Group managed to increase its profits by 20%.
The Mitie Group have just won the combined cleaning and catering contract for St George’s Hospital. Not only was it approved by the Trust Board at its meeting on 31 March but so too was the term of the contract-7 years. The contract will still be running long after the present board who agreed it have disappeared-as they certainly will if the hospital’s much sought after foundation trust status becomes a reality.
What was also interesting was that the Board met on 31 March. Mitie’s contract began on 1 April. Just supposing it hadn’t been agreed by the Board . What would have happened ? Another case of the Trust Board acting as a rubber stamp !
So, what can we expect from Mitie ? One thing we do know is that they have been in numerous disputes with trade unions over their penchant for paying low wages. The most recent, with the notoriously poorly paid office cleaners in the city.
We certainly don’t want any of that here. Hospitals cleaning can only be done properly by dedicated staff who are properly rewarded for their skills..
Well cleaned hospitals are a vital part of the fight to eliminate hospital acquired infections.
Mitie-take note.

Is St George's Hospital Salary Bill Set To Rise ?

To swipe or not to swipe ? That was one of the more interesting issues that was not discussed at the St George’s Trust Board on 31 March. I say not discussed because as always the Trust Board was in unanimous agreement with the proposition.
Treated to a glossy power point presentation, the Board members were shown the wonderful advantages that could be in store if only a new swipe card system was introduced. This would show which staff were on duty, where, what time they started, what time they finished, were shift patterns up to speed, etc , etc . It all sounded very good. Everyone was assured that the St George’s staff couldn’t wait to get their hands on a brand new, hopefully uninfected, swipe card. There was just one fly in the ointment. None of the staff organisations favoured the scheme. This wasn’t just a handful of militants, but organisation as far ranging as, the BMA, the RCN, the Royal College of Midwives, the Society of Radiographers, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, and Unison and Unite - a pretty formidable array of professional organisations. Not only did they oppose the scheme but they had produced a scholarly point by point repost in a paper that ought to receive an award for its incisiveness and academic breadth.
None of this of course had any effect on the board. Their only point of concern was that the consultants hadn’t signed up to this glorified clocking on and clocking off procedure. One wonders why consultants, who usually know a good thing when they see it, weren’t champing at the bit to get on board. So, despite overwhelming opposition from staff, the scheme went through on the nod, or should I say the bleat. During the very limited time allocated for questions at the end the meeting, the Board were asked how the introduction of such a scheme would affect St George’s salary bill.
The questioner asked -given that three quarters of St George’s staff in the latest staff survey said that they worked more than their contracted hours-what affect would this have on the wages bill ?
Everyone who has any dealings with the NHS knows that staff work over and above their contracted hours. Without their dedication the service would collapse.
If a swipe card system was introduced did this mean that staff would be paid for hours worked , rather than for contracted hours ?
There was a stunned silence from the Board and then a hastily cobbled together answer to the effect that, ’the new system will show up just who is working more than their contractual hours and they will be given extra help’
Believe that, and you’ll believe anything.
In either event it will mean more pay for the present staff, or a big increase in staff numbers.
If the Trust Board want to introduce swipe cards, they better have the money put aside to foot the massive increase in the wages bill

Decon Sciences do well out of St George' s Hospital

Poor old St George's Social Club, once again they missed out on the monthly handouts the Hospital gives to the deserving poor.
This month is was Decon Sciences that were the grateful benefactor's of a gift from the Hospital Trust Board.
Decon Sciences sterilises, or sometimes fails to sterilise, hospital instruments. Despite previous assurances that sterilisation was done in-house, the St George's Trust Board revealed at their meeting on 31 March 2009 that some 'sterilisation management', whatever that is, was still being done by Decon. Apparently the contract has now been terminated, and Decon Sciences has walked away with £390,000 of tax payers money. That was the amount of debt owed to the hospital by the company that was written off.
At the previous Trust Board meeting in January almost £150,000 was written off in unrecoverable debts
So far this year over £540,000 has been written off in debts to company's like Decon -all at the tax payers expense, and with money that could have been better spent on improving the services at our hospital.
At the other end of the scale the disputed debt incurred by St George's own Social Club, a paltry £30,000, still remains outstanding-and incedently, the allegedly much needed Staff Club space, still remains empty.
So while Decon's shareholders get a bonus, St George's staff have to cough up to pay a debt they don't even believe they owe.
If the Trust Board can wipe off a debt of almost £400,000 for a limited company, why can't they do the same, for a much smaller amount for their own employees ?
Maybe if St George's Social Club renamed itself St George's Social Club plc, the debt would be written off overnight.

NHS Wandsworth and St George's Hospital in Dispute Over Tariffs

St George's Hospital and NHS Wandsworth, formerly known as Wandsworth PCT, are at loggerheads over the tariff to be charged for various hospital services. The situation has gotten so bad that at the Hospital Trust Board meeting on 31 March, 2009, the Board agreed that unless the situation can be resolved the whole thing will have to be settled by arbitration. Asked who would arbitrate, the Hospital's Chief Executive replied that is would be the job of NHS London.

St George's relies heavily on the revenue received from NHS Wandsworth and other local NHS bodies. Together its make up for over three quarters of the Hospital's total income.

The former PCTs are the backbone of the hospital's finances, without their payment for services the hospital would not survive.

That it has come to this- a falling out between different NHS bodies- is all as a result of the crazy purchaser provider split that was introduced into the NHS by the Tories, and continued by New Labour. Under this arrangement one part of the NHS buys services from the other part.

In simple terms money is given to the local NHS, be it Wandsworth, Merton,Kingston, or wherever and the local NHS then pays the local hospital for services, X Rays, Out Patient Appointments etc.

So, someone visits their local doctor, who refers them to the Hospital of their choice-most people chose their local hospital - they are treated at the hospital, and the local NHS body in which the patient lives is charged accordingly. It is what's know as the 'internal market' It's wasteful, bureaucratic, and inevitably leads to conflicts within the NHS. Lord Darzi may wax lyrical about 'co-operation' between all parts of the NHS, but with an internal market this just will not happen.

The conflict between St George's and the other NHS bodies in the area is an inevitable result of the introduction of competition into the NHS. Different parts of what ought to be a united organisation and now fighting each other over who should get the larger share of the budget. If NHS Wandsworth and its associates win it will be less money for St George's. If St George's win it will mean that NHS Wandsworth has less money to spend.

Hasn't someone told them, it all comes out of the same pot anyway. There is only one solution. Scrap the NHS internal market.

Renal Dialysis– The ‘Spivs’ Move In

St George’s along with Epsom and St Helier Hospital have just agreed a five year contract with Fresenius Medical Services Limited, an international company that has virtually cornered the market in renal dialysis.
The contract worth over £47 million over five years is allegedly going to ‘potentially' save almost
£8million. Believe that and you’ll believe anything ? Private companies, from BT downwards have a notorious record of being unable to deliver when it comes to the NHS.
The short sighted approach by the board appears to be that as there is no capital outlay involved
this must be a good thing.
We will be paying for each therapy and Fresenius, who have obviously done their sums very well
see it as a ‘nice little earner’.
During the last financial quarter Fresenius recorded an increase in profits of 14%. Given the current economic climate that is not bad at all. Surprising then that those from St George’s
negotiating the contract didn’t ask Fresenius to lop at least 10% off their tender price.
I am sure that the good shareholders of the company wouldn’t want to make too much money out of others misfortune
How much more cost effective it would have been if St George’s and other neighbouring hospitals had all got together and purchased their own Renal Dialysis equipment. That way, not only would it be cheaper in the long run, but we wouldn’t be at the mercy of an international company that was described by the board as having a ‘quasi monopoly position’ on renal dialysis.
Monopolies can dictate prices. What happens when Frensesius decide to put their tariff up !