bicycle
06-04-2009, 09:21 PM
"Why did I keep thinking of Common Purpose whilst reading this article" :rolleyes:
HEALTH bosses are under fire for creating a £77,000 job aimed at boosting the NHS "market" while workers face up to recession.
The Cambridge-based East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) is advertising for a "head of healthcare market management", offering an annual salary of between £62,000 and £77,000.
Trade union Unite attacked the SHA for creating the job as the NHS prepares for recession-driven cutbacks, while an NHS campaigner described the salary as "outrageous".
Karen Reay, health sector national officer for Unite, told the News: "We are looking at cost savings everywhere in the NHS. Our members are working with massive excess workloads. But, yet again, there's more investment for the NHS internal market."
The SHA gives "strategic direction" to the region's NHS, but does not provide any healthcare.
The advert states the job will help the SHA get a "step ahead" in managing an NHS in which the goal is creating "competition between healthcare providers so that service is delivered by the best provider regardless of type".
Mike Gough, who led the successful 'Save Hinchingbrooke' campaign, said: "It's an outrageous salary for someone to sell off the NHS gold and silver."
Mr Gough said the NHS market described in the advert is "privatisation", adding: "That is not the NHS as Nye Bevan said it would be. I know things have to evolve, but it will be a two-tier situation, where people up high devolve everything to the cheapest bidder. It will not be a public health service."
The News revealed that the SHA's chief executive, Sir Neil McKay, earned a salary of between £215,000 and £220,000 in 2007/08. He also had a pension pot worth £1.75 million.
Dr Stephen Dunn, the SHA's director of strategy, said talk of privatisation is "scaremongering", with the only agenda being to "ensure that providers deliver the highest quality standards and the very best patient experiences right across the East of England".
He added: "Increased competition is one of a range of strategies that we are using to drive improvements in patient care. Of course people will resist competition if it forces them to raise their game. But we are here to improve services for patients, not protect providers."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=405794
HEALTH bosses are under fire for creating a £77,000 job aimed at boosting the NHS "market" while workers face up to recession.
The Cambridge-based East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) is advertising for a "head of healthcare market management", offering an annual salary of between £62,000 and £77,000.
Trade union Unite attacked the SHA for creating the job as the NHS prepares for recession-driven cutbacks, while an NHS campaigner described the salary as "outrageous".
Karen Reay, health sector national officer for Unite, told the News: "We are looking at cost savings everywhere in the NHS. Our members are working with massive excess workloads. But, yet again, there's more investment for the NHS internal market."
The SHA gives "strategic direction" to the region's NHS, but does not provide any healthcare.
The advert states the job will help the SHA get a "step ahead" in managing an NHS in which the goal is creating "competition between healthcare providers so that service is delivered by the best provider regardless of type".
Mike Gough, who led the successful 'Save Hinchingbrooke' campaign, said: "It's an outrageous salary for someone to sell off the NHS gold and silver."
Mr Gough said the NHS market described in the advert is "privatisation", adding: "That is not the NHS as Nye Bevan said it would be. I know things have to evolve, but it will be a two-tier situation, where people up high devolve everything to the cheapest bidder. It will not be a public health service."
The News revealed that the SHA's chief executive, Sir Neil McKay, earned a salary of between £215,000 and £220,000 in 2007/08. He also had a pension pot worth £1.75 million.
Dr Stephen Dunn, the SHA's director of strategy, said talk of privatisation is "scaremongering", with the only agenda being to "ensure that providers deliver the highest quality standards and the very best patient experiences right across the East of England".
He added: "Increased competition is one of a range of strategies that we are using to drive improvements in patient care. Of course people will resist competition if it forces them to raise their game. But we are here to improve services for patients, not protect providers."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=405794