The NHS in England is rapidly being reorganised into 42 regional Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), while the public are distracted by the responses to the Covid pandemic.The timing is inappropriate as there has been no meaningful public consultation. ICSs have been planned using consultants from huge US corporations such as Centene. Senior executives from Centene have been, appointed by UK Government as advisors to achieve ICS transformation of the NHS (Tim Ferris/Samantha Jones)
These ICSs will strengthen the role of private companies, including US health insurance corporations, in the NHS. Private companies will be serving on ICS boards deciding health care priorities, putting them in a prime position to make self-serving decisions for the NHS. ICSs are actually based on a “population health” model from the United States, which aims to spend less on care by excluding people with complex health needs,.
ICSs will operate with fixed annual budgets for a wide range of health and social care services – based on area-wide targets, rather than providing the care needed by the individuals who live there
The local emphasis is on patients using ‘self-care’ at home rather than hospital care for complex or chronic conditions. There will be rationing of care by excluding procedures ‘of limited clinical value’ such as hip and knee surgery. Many patients may be persuaded to pay for surgery privately rather than suffer increasing pain and disability which affects the elderly disproportionally.
There is currently an unprecedented collection of patients records into a database being set up for the NHS using the private tech giants, Google, Amazon and Pallatir. This confidential information cannot be and accessed without the expressed consent of patients. The Government view is that if patients have not objected then by omission they are assumed to have consented. The Government is intension is to house his immense store of personal data and confidential medical records in one central place.
The public need to be reassured that this data is secure and safe from private health providers who could potentially obtain data to exploit for commercial opportunities. Tell your GP you object to your data being stored and used unless it is secure and your permission is sought should it be required to be accessed for whatever purpose. The closing date is 23 June 2021 for objecting to your data being stored and at risk from sharing for commercial purposes..
Despite claiming ICSs benefit patients by ‘integrating’ health and social care, they will cause fragmentation of services. ICSs are supposed to operate as partnerships between the NHS, local authorities and unspecified others, but the plans will actually bind local authorities into NHS priorities, threatening the future integrity of social care and reducing local accountability. Only one LA representative invited on to each ICS Board. Local authorities will lose the power to refer decisions on Reconfiguration (e.g. service closures) to the Secretary of State.
Some 83 corporations and businesses, including 22 from the US, are heavily involved in developing ICSs and may even be invited to sit on their boards, The plans will mean more private contracts awarded without safeguards, more down-skilling and outsourcing of NHS jobs, deregulation of professional standards, reduced services.(An estimated £20 billion worth of contracts already awarded
NHS England has asked for legislation to support the role of ICSs and turn them into legal bodies, this means these unaccountable ICS board plans will be binding. None of the ICSs are legal organisations yet so time to intervene and insist on full consultation process with MPS and constituents.
We can stop this happening now! Write to your local councillors and your MP demand an immediate halt to the rollout of ICS and insist on a public consultation and sign the petition to stop the rollout of ICS in England Sign the petition on https://keepournhspublic.com/campaigns/legislative-changes/integrated-care/integrated-care-system-petition/
Why you need to stop Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and the White Paper. NHS Integration and Innovation’
- Mid pandemic is an inappropriate time to start a new major NHS initiative but it does reduce the opportunities for public consultation and potential campaigns and protests about major changes.
- The Secretary of State for Health is back in charge of the NHS and has the power to supervise cuts in services and reconfiguration unchallenged and unaccountable.
- Instead of integration we face disintegration as the ‘top down’ approach transfers control to 42 ICS regions with loss of local decision making as Clinical Care Groups (CCGs) abolished and replaced by the 42 ICS Boards
- US companies such as Centene used to set up ICSs based on the American model of health provision with fixed budgets based on population data. The emphasis is to promote self care and to have patients care managed at home using virtual rather than face to face consultation and ‘Out of Hospital’ care.
- Competitive tendering for contracts under 2012 Act abolished ICS free to procure private service contracts for health without any tender process
- ICS Boards can inviting private health providers to serve on the board will increase privatisation, outsourcing and threaten NHS staff employment. This risks a conflict of interest by the commercial motives of private care providers.
- There is no extra funding for the NHS, The introduction of ICS is about saving money, reducing the demand for hospital care by denying surgery, and procedures of limited clinical value. Reduced demand for clinics and out patients may close smaller local clinics and hospitals
- The ICS plan is not just another re-organisation, but the final steps to privatising of our NHS as there are no guarantees for some care and procedures in the future a charge could be levied.
Defend our NHS York 