At our February meeting we decided to give our backing to the national legal challenge being led by 999 Call for the NHS. The Judicial Review is challenging the lawfulness of a new contract being introduced by NHS England – which sounds fairly dry and boring… until you look at the details of what is contained in this new contract.
Integrated Care Provider contracts
If they are allowed to proceed, the way in which NHS Providers will be paid, including the new fixed budget process it contains, will have many profound negative effects on the way NHS services are delivered across the county and especially Huntingdonshire.
We are busy trying to figure out the landscape of the NHS across the county and where Hinchingbrooke fits in the scheme of things. The recently-announced NHS England Long Term Plan requires all Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships to become Integrated Care Systems and sees 2019/20 as a transitional year for changes to the area’s NHS financial framework and services.
So far we have discovered that there are now North & South Alliances of GPs and Providers (to do what exactly?)
There are Primary Care Networks with GPs hubbed together to cover patient lists of 30-50,000 people (can you get an appointment?).
There are also larger “Integrated Neighbourhoods” and on top of that there is the Integrated Care System – although at the last CCG meeting the Accountable Care Officer admitted that there hadn’t been much movement on that as the STP Board weren’t sure exactly who was in charge of that one.
Integration is being sold as the miracle cure by NHS England but it is clear to us that driving through a policy of forcing management systems together is not going to improve frontline medical care and is designed solely to justify yet more cuts – and mergers such as our situation here in Huntingdonshire. Hinchingbrooke is no longer an independent hospital and has to behave as part of the North West Anglia Foundation Trust (Peterborough to the public)
Lorna Mansbridge, HOH Secretary said:
“Making Cambridgeshire an Integrated Care System may mean centralising acute and emergency services to Addenbrookes and Peterborough. Which raises the question – what will we be left with at Hinchingbrooke? Introducing the USA Accountable Care Organisation contract will mean that providers will will be forced to restrict services in order to make a profit. This is not the NHS we want. That’s why we are supporting the 999 Call for the NHS legal challenge to stop the contract.”
If you have personal experiences of changes to Hinchingbrooke that have impacted on you or your family we want to hear them. Contact us by email.
Many thanks
Hands Off Hinchingbrooke