Cancer Scanning in Oxfordshire

Sun 7 Apr 2019, 11:38

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/04/oxford-hospital-scanners-private-healthcare-review-matt-hancock

"The health secretary has been called in to settle a row over a “murky and opaque” plan to privatise a key element of cancer treatment currently handled by one of England’s most highly respected hospitals."

If I'm reading this correctly (the link to the article posted by Christine, and the later link posted above), it seems that the health secretary will simply review the procurement process, but that InHealth have the contract anyway.  So the scanners will be operated by InHealth no matter what the health secretary says.

"The outcry over the privatisation plan led to a partial climbdown from NHS England, which agreed that the two scanners should stay in Churchill hospital and be operated by NHS staff, though InHealth was still to be given the contract to provide the service."

NHS, or InHealth?  I'm confused.

Fri 29 Mar 2019, 13:17

https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/surveys/1626?bucket=email-blast-28_3_2019_nhs_churchill_posters&utm_campaign=blast2019-03-29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=

The above link is to download posters against this cancer scanning privatisation if anyone is interested.

Thu 28 Mar 2019, 13:00

Very interesting, Hannen. I hope you have posted your review on this site: https://www.nhs.uk/Services/Trusts/ReviewsAndRatings/DefaultView.aspx?id=183 

This review site makes it clear that some people have had good service from InHealth, many (like you) have not. And, indeed, this is the company that is (still) due to be awarded the cancer-scanning contract in the Thames Valley region, despite the exception made for the Oxford hospitals, according to the article in the Guardian that I posted the link to yesterday. 

As it stands, it seems the Churchill will retain the scanners & that these will be operated by NHS staff, but the overall contract will be given to InHealth. And this raises a lot of questions about data protection & also about where the profits will go.

Like Hannen, I had also looked up InHealth on companies house, and been rather amazed to discover how many differently named private health companies are run by the 3 people listed as key. One is linked to 33 companies; one is linked to 52 companies; and one to 62 companies. Since a lot of these health companies seem to do rather similar things, I am assuming that they have been set up in this complicated way in order to minimise tax liabilities & the like. 

I'm not sure whether the company structure will be on the agenda at the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee of OCC that Liz mentions, but I really hope that somebody with more expertise than me can do some detective work in advance of that meeting!

Thu 28 Mar 2019, 09:43

Please see:

https://www.inhealthgroup.com/2018/10/23/inhealth-opens-additional-community-health-clinic/

Thu 28 Mar 2019, 09:36 (last edited on Thu 28 Mar 2019, 09:37)

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few."

Good news indeed, but I suspect that the battle for the NHS is by no means over.

Last year I was referred by my GP for a 24 hour cardiac wiring up thingy…

Long post - click to read full text

Thu 28 Mar 2019, 09:27 (last edited on Thu 28 Mar 2019, 09:34)

It is also on the agenda, just published, for the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to be held on April 4th at County Hall at 10 am.  Public are allowed time to speak at this meeting in case anyone wants to do that. You will need to apply in advance for a slot.

Wed 27 Mar 2019, 18:05

Good news: U-turn over plans to privatise cancer scanning services in Oxfordshire. 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/27/u-turn-over-plans-to-privatise-cancer-scanning-services-oxford-hospital

Fri 22 Mar 2019, 16:55

Thu 21 Mar 2019, 08:22

A possible change of mind...

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17516681.decision-to-privatise-vital-cancer-scans-could-be-delayed-as-outrage-grows/?ref=eb

Thu 14 Mar 2019, 18:28

Subject: Cancer screening in Oxfordshire
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2019 14:20:36 +0000

  
  
Dear ,

A cancer screening service in Oxford has just been sold to a private
company. [1] Local NHS doctors are raising the alarm. They say it will
mean worse care for cancer patients across Oxfordshire. [2]

It’s…

Long post - click to read full text

Thu 14 Mar 2019, 08:45

Thank you, Christine, for this depressing but important bit of news, and for the useful link.   Perhaps Chris Grayling has been doing a bit of moonlighting at the Department of Health..

Wed 13 Mar 2019, 16:38 (last edited on Wed 13 Mar 2019, 16:38)

Thanks, Liz. It's good to know that you are aware & that the Lib Dem group is acting on this.

It's still worth people going to the website https://keepournhspublicoxfordshire.org.uk/ and writing to or emailing the other 2 people suggested there. 

Wed 13 Mar 2019, 14:55

Thank you, Christine.  The Lib Dem group are aware of this and will be bringing it to the next HOSC meeting as this is a major change which should be scrutinised by that committee.

Wed 13 Mar 2019, 12:08 (last edited on Wed 13 Mar 2019, 12:10)

In case people have not picked up on news that the Churchill Hospital in Oxford is about to have its Cancer Scanning facilities privatised & perhaps also removed, can I refer people to the following link: https://keepournhspublicoxfordshire.org.uk/

The website explains that NHS England has decreed that PET scanning right across the South East should be put out to tender. PET (positron emission tomography) scanners are used in cancer care in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Churchill in Oxford. 

Oxford University Hospitals put in a bid to run its own NHS scanners (which work perfectly well at present). Despite being a Centre of Excellence & important for scientific and medical research, they lost the contract. This has instead been awarded to InHealth, a private, for-profit company, that has no scanners of its own, as yet no designated site for the scanners, with also a reduction in well-trained specialist staff. 

They also explain how the whole process has been conducted in a highly secretive fashion, and that Oxfordshire County Council was not consulted in the way that it should have been. There has been a small amount of press & news coverage, but not enough. The Brexit shenanigans seem to drive out news of everything else. 

As I know plenty of people in Charlbury who have used the NHS cancer services at the Churchill, & who feel reassured by being able to access the specialist teams at the JR & the linked Oxford hospitals, I thought it worth sharing the link. 

The website gives suggestions as to who to write to complain about the lack of public consultation -- and, sorry, Liz Leffman, but this probably means that, as our local representative on Oxfordshire County Council,  you may well get a lot of emails asking you to press for this to come before the Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee at the OCC !