Labour leadership contender John McDonnell has vowed to fight wholesale NHS privatisation plans put forward by the health agencies covering his Hayes and Harlington constituency in West London.
Under the plans, which fly in the face of government assurances that they will not privatise the NHS, the Hillingdon primary care trust would hand over almost all of its core functions to the private sector, including the commissioning of E258 million worth of health care services. This would be the biggest single act of NHS privatisation and would open the floodgates right across the country.
The plan will be put to the Hillingdon PCT board in April. The PCT is currently facing an accumulated deficit of £54 million on its £258 million turnover and has been projecting that a further £11 million deficit will have to be added this year.
Meanwhile, the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust has been forced by the PCT to become the first hospital in the country to privatise a slice of its accident and emergency provision. A company called Harmoni will open a "gatekeeping" minor treatment unit in the existing casualty department which is expected to cream off 15% of the A&E referrals.
John McDonnell MP said:
"This plan to privatise just about everything that moves in the NHS in Hillingdon would blaze a trail for the health service to be ripped to shreds in the name of profit right across the country."