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Health bosses under fire over “wastage” claims
WIGAN health chiefs today defended a deal involving local trusts which saw them forking out millions for treatment that never took place.
NHS Ashton, Leigh and Wigan is the lead authority in Greater Manchester on clinical assessment and treatment services (Cats) and so has been catching flak this week after figures showed two-thirds of the procedures agreed with private company Care UK did not happen.
GPs are supposed to refer 85,500 patients to two mobile units moving around six sites in Greater Manchester annually. But just 25,500 people used the service in its first year.
Under the new seven-year contract – worth £204.2m and negotiated and signed by the Department of Health – the region’s 10 health trusts paid for each operation that Care UK performed each month. But at the end of the year they were given a bill for underperformance and made to pay for the rest of their “quota” of treatment.
Local health bosses are said to be furious that Whitehall officials forced them into such a costly contract, especially at a time when they are having to defend themselves against allegations that the NHS is bloated and ripe for austerity cuts.
Paul Mainwaring from pressure group the Patient Council said: “There is no excuse for waste on this scale. We have carried out a survey which shows 60 per cent of people who had undergone treatment had not heard of this scheme.”
The Care UK contract allows GPs to refer patients to the service known as Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service to perform minor operations for orthopaedic, ear, nose and throat, gynaecology and urology conditions. It is alleged that Department of Health negotiators set some trusts’ quotas higher than they indicated.
The Wigan PCT today said it had anticipated a slow start to the scheme.
And chief executive Peter Rowe added: “The CATS service is a new innovative service, providing an outpatient/assessment service, offering patients shorter waiting times within a community setting.
“As with any new service this understandably takes time to establish itself within the local health economy. GP and patient engagement is ongoing and as awareness grows we are seeing increased referrals into the service in line with planned volumes.
“The most recent Patient Satisfaction surveys undertaken demonstrate CATS is received well by the Greater Manchester population, providing a positive patient experience with 98.5 per cent of patients rating the service as good, very good or excellent.”
A spokesman for Care UK said: “We accept that we haven’t reached our contracted volume targets yet, but demand for the service is growing rapidly, as awareness continues to increase and we expect to be able to meet contracted levels shortly.”
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There are 5 comments to this article
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Truth Advocate
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 01:03 AM.On benefits, this really is an area of misconception - apparently more goes unclaimed\unpaid than fraudulently claimed ! ------------ NHS and DWP etc have disgraceful and corrupt systems specifically designed to deny help or monies, make claimants jump through hoops and lives as miserable as possible, even to the point of criminalising them, all the while giving the opposite impression to the uninformed and unfairly labelling all as 'scroungers', whilst paying crony quangos vast sums - no joke - some UK citizens would be better off claiming asylum on how badly they are treat by their own country UK ! On wasting taxpayers money - Freedom of information reveals, department of works and pensions ran up 9 million costs on 14 consultants; communities and local government spent 37m on just 75 consultants average approx 490,00 each; Whitehall 20,000 staff wage bill of 2 billion for these, but is further paying 660,000 staff and agencies. The cabinet office ran up 16 million on 39 consultants. Yet there is a single parent student article under Regional news, where he had to petition 'experts' including the Secretary of State for help just for 3 weeks jobseekers allowance - £65 a week, this was stopped as he was doing an unpaid internship, and the pathetic DWP couldn't deal with this. Oh how the privileged live on six figure salaries – while unemployed are living on 3k per annum - certainly leads to the questioning of value for taxpayers money and who are the actual leeches of society; these quangos on how pathetic they are in being unable to maintain and design such basic system, yet cost so much and with no consequences to the failed ‘executives’ we even give them big pay offs and pensions when they fail - with help like this the 3 m unemployed stand no chance, keeps a lot of pen-pushers and jobsworths busy in NOT actually providing help or creating REAL employment, as to secondary hidden ‘training’ agencies that really is a disgraceful rip off.
Lomra Greener
Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 07:05 PMWhat about the benefit fraudster further down this page? No comment allowed. Thought control?, or political correctness?
Truth Advocate
Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 04:21 PMJimmy – right on monies given away, it isn’t just locally that we are being ripped off. Care UK regarding 'social care' featured in a Panorama expose - furthermore NHS ‘private’ PCT contract arrangements - Netcare and Care UK are names that keep cropping up. Netcare is SOUTH AFRICAN owned, and has a variety of controlling interests in other seemingly UK companies --------- the tax payer is being fleeced since at least 2004, quick review and few examples of what’s been going on --------- Health Chiefs in Greater Manchester NHS signed a £70m contract with South African firm Netcare to carry out 9,000 operations a year at the Greater Manchester Surgical Centre in Trafford and WASTING 26m. ------------- Ashton, Leigh and Wigan Primary Care Trust were implicated in paying GPs £30 each time a patient that CHOOSES to be treated at the Greater Manchester Surgical Centre, apparently not popular given the lack of success ! Generally PCT s have also been found also paying doctors £59 to NOT send patients to ‘hospital’ for treatment and referrals ! Hmmmm, on Netcare other areas charged £225,000 for £40,000 worth of work , “500 operations and assessments but only 93 were carried out”, found to have done botched hip operations, substandard eye care and operations causing complications etc Personally I feel extremely sorry for Doctors, Specialist and Nursing staff having to work in such a PCT regime and as to being patients - the PCT like NICE drug rationing body both are a commercial FRONT, profitable and dress it up as cost effective so these pen-pushing quangos can be seen as efficient and get bonuses and maintain lots of high paid executive jobs – either way, questionable to provision of expensive poor quality care, manipulating referrals \non referrals with financial inducements and over estimating ACTUAL requirement – the PCT system nationally is totally useless of questionable integrity and should be disbanded that’s without even mentioning training and social care which likewise is subject to Labour quango’s spiders web !
cowboy
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 11:00 AMwhats new we have got used to the previous goverment squandering our money away
Jimmy
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 10:54 AMNew Labours BRITAIN. Where your TAXES WERE STOLEN and GIVEN AWAY by New Labour placemen in positions were they were totally inadequate or were placed to ruin and waste our Health and wealth. INVESTIGATE THOSE WHO DREW UP THE CONTRACTS, SANCTIONED THE CONTRACTS AND SIGNED THE CONTRACTS !
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