Public service trade union Unison has started legal action against the health secretary Andrew Lansley over his refusal to consult the public on sweeping changes to the way the NHS is organised.
A day after the white paper was published in July, NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson instructed all NHS chief executives to implement the proposals immediately. At the time Unison, which represents 400,000 members in the NHS, wrote to Nicholson saying this instruction was unlawful. It argues that until the public have had the opportunity to consider and comment on the proposals, changes should not be implemented.
Nicholson's letter outlines major issues that could pose significant risks to the management of the NHS as well as to the wider public sector, including possible compulsory redundancies.
In addition, all NHS leaders were told by Nicholson that they should not only be meeting their financial, operational and quality targets for this year but must also meet "enhanced reporting arrangements" and work "urgently" with local authorities.
In his July letter, Nicholson said NHS leaders must be "on the pitch, not in the commentary box", and must not defend "organisational self-interest".
Nicholson then wrote another letter to NHS chief executives, reminding them not to introduce any reforms until the end of the official public consultation period on 5 October. But he also said that the consultation was only over how the changes should be implemented and not on whether they should be introduced at all.
This has provoked an angry response from Karen Jennings, Unison head of health, who said the NHS constitution enshrines the principle that the public, staff and unions have an absolute right to be consulted. "That means not only on how the proposals are to be implemented, but also whether they should go ahead in the first place," stated the union.
Nicholson said the public's view on the white paper proposals themselves was not being requested and would not be considered.
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.