The joys of privatising the NHS

How can a company say it is not responsible for the negligence of an employee carrying out the work they are employed to do? On the subject of NHS Norfolk and Waveney not checking whether their contractor had proper insurance, words fail me.

I am constantly appalled by the incompetence of local authorities, NHS organisations and government departments in negotiating contracts. I was involved in negotiating contracts when I was working in the private sector and we had a contracts department who were directly involved in the negotiations of large contracts and checked and approved all smaller contracts to make sure that all these items were covered. We had standard forms of contracts that we were expected to use to avoid 'expectations' of this nature.

This "farming out" of services causes so many problems.

The use of a private company to provide meals often creates a situation where patients have nothing to eat - there are nurses to nurse, cooks to cook, chaps to go round and ask what you want to eat - but no-one in this multi-employer tangle has the duty to make sure the patient is capable of getting the food to their mouth!

The fact that this out-of-hours company had no insurance against employee negligence is appalling; and those who signed the contract without checking this are also to blame.

I would rather see all medical services under the same umbrella - all this fragmentation causes nothing but grief.

Well I expect private companies to maximise profit by cutting down on the cost of insurance premiums - why didn't the local NHS? I'm getting more and more horrified - that poor family and all this time- and none of us can be sure it won't happen to us or someone we care about- what can we do? fumes

"^The local NHS^ that contracted out the service, NHS Norfolk and Waveney, says it expects the private firm to be insured." Expects! Why did they not have cast iron guarantees from the private company? That should have been specified when tenders for the service were invited. There's a chain of negligence here.

I agree they are both very worrying but what concerns me about the lack of insurance cover is that it was allowed to happen - negligent acts can't be legislated against but contracts with private providers can be properly drawn up

I'm not sure which is more worrying, the criminally negligent advice given by the nurse or the fact that the private firm wasn't insured against giving the wrong advice! Either way, bad news for patients. Thanks for the link, bluebell

Oh good - another achievement!

m.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/17/family-sues-harmoni-gp-provider
Humm - still not working!