Shocking evidence of how Labour and
union figures had the first privately run NHS hospital declared a failure has
been uncovered by the Daily Mail.
There are growing calls for an inquiry
into how Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire was rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care
Quality Commission watchdog – only months after winning an award for patient
care.
But the Mail has learned that:
·
Individuals who helped draw up the
CQC’s damning report have close ties to the Labour Party and unions which
oppose NHS privatisation.
·
The local NHS body, which suddenly
slashed the hospital’s funding and imposed arbitrary fines, is heavily
influenced by Labour activists.
·
The watchdog’s lead inspector, Dr
Jonathan Fielden, was previously a senior member of the doctors’ trade union,
the British Medical Association, and has warned of the dangers of
privatisation.
·
A second inspector, Dr Nigel Sturrock,
has been associated with the Keep Our NHS Public group.
·
And a doctor employed by the hospital
who is suspected of briefing the CQC about its supposed failings happens to be
the Labour candidate to be the area’s MP. Dr Nik Johnson is believed to have
influenced the report’s severe criticism of children’s services in the A&E
unit.
The inspection report by the CQC last week led to Circle, the firm running Hinchingbrooke, withdrawing its contract. The hospital has now been placed in special measures and could be closed down.
MPs whose constituents include hospital
staff and patients are urging the Health Secretary to begin an inquiry into the
inspection. They say the report’s findings are entirely at odds with an award
last May naming it as the best performing NHS trust in the country.
David Campbell Bannerman, Tory MEP for
the Eastern Region, said: ‘This is a Labour stitch-up. I wonder how many of the
CQC’s other inspectors are quietly sympathetic to keeping the NHS public
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