28 March 2003
Town hall leaders are to mount a campaign against government plans for foundation hospitals, claiming they could dilute their own democratic mandate.
As Public Finance went to press, the executive of the Local Government Association was set to approve a strategy for opposing the creation of foundation trusts at its meeting on March 27.
LGA leaders are staunchly opposed to plans for the boards of the foundations to be directly elected, fearing that they will create 'parallel mandates'.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the LGA, told PF the plans set a 'dangerous precedent' that could lead to the fragmentation of public services. 'If you have a series of elected bodies, some of them elected on rather peculiar franchises, you lose the overall aspect that local government provides of linking up all the public services,' he said.
The LGA plans to set up a campaign committee and lobby Health Secretary Alan Milburn intensively as the controversial Bill to set up foundation trusts awaits its second reading. It will argue that separate elections for local authorities and trust boards would lead to confusion over which elected officials truly represented local people.
Members will also warn of possible friction between the different health care agencies that would make the provision of joined-up services more difficult.
The LGA's action plan was due for approval as a report published by Left-wing think-tank Catalyst condemned foundation trusts as a threat to 'integrated, egalitarian services'. The paper, by Professor John Mohan of Portsmouth University, argues the trusts will lead to distortions and inequalities in the allocation of investment, resources and staff.
It says the introduction of competition will lead all trusts to 'act in a commercial manner', and warns that foundations' desire to avoid an expensive caseload may lead to selection and 'segregation in the clientele using hospitals'.
Mohan said: 'Labour policy seems informed more by pragmatism than by principle, resulting in a dangerous drift back towards a pattern of services determined by the ability of hospitals to compete in markets rather than one determined by social needs.'
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis, whose union is a vocal opponent of foundation trusts, endorsed the paper's conclusions. 'I have no doubt that foundation trusts will lead to increased privatisation, higher costs and damaging competition in the NHS,' he said.
PFmar2003
