UNISON Backed Research Puts NHS Social Enterprise Schemes Under The Microscope, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 01 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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UNISON, the UK's largest health union, launched a new report* looking at social enterprise schemes in the NHS. Social enterprise is the latest delivery model to be championed by the Government as it looks to extend diversity of provision and competition within the health service.

The report poses a number of key questions and signals the need to keep rapid developments in the NHS under close and constant scrutiny.

Speaking at a breakfast seminar, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:

"It is possible for a social enterprise to start off with a genuine desire for innovation and to serve the needs of the local community, but sustainability is always going to be a problem. A newly formed enterprise will have to deal with the finance, management and competitive tendering process, making it ripe for takeover by private companies and big business.

"Social enterprises existed before the NHS and flaws in the system of unequal access to treatment led to its establishment in 1948. We must make sure that we learn the lessons of history and don't rush headlong into imposing social enterprise schemes from the top down. There is concern that they are seen as 'the only game in town' with the threat of being swallowed up by a large multinational as the only alternative."

As social enterprises begin to deliver health services traditionally covered by the NHS, there are important issues for staff to consider around pension entitlements, Agenda for Change and terms and conditions.

Furthermore, it is possible that some social enterprises may smooth the way for the greater involvement of the private sector in primary care - whether intentionally or otherwise.

*'Social Enterprise and the NHS - Changing Patterns of Ownership and Accountability" by Linda Marks, Senior Research Fellow, David J. Hunter, Professor of Health Policy and Management - Centre for Public Policy and Health, Durham University.

http://www.unison.org.uk

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