AN MP has voiced concern over the awarding of an £8.25m NHS contract to treat patients in Hull to a private firm.
Healthshare Ltd, based in Kent, has been awarded a multi-million-pound contract to provide physiotherapy to patients in Hull after an NHS service lost out.
Campaigners fear the decision by Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to give the five-year contract to private company HealthShare, in West Malling, Kent, signals the start of the privatisation of the NHS.
Karl Turner, MP for Hull East, said: "This is the reality of the Health and Social Care Act.
"It is privatisation of the NHS by the back door.
"We should be using the NHS to run the NHS, it shouldn't be the private sector.
"The Labour Party fought against this bill in the House of Commons and we lost.
"But a new Labour Government, if we are elected, will repeal the Health and Social Care Act on day one."
From October, patients with muscle, bone and joint problems in Hull will be moved from the care of NHS staff to the private firm
Hull CCG, which has a budget of £362m to buy hospital, community and mental health care on behalf of Hull's population, said the five-year musculoskeletal (MSK) contract was awarded to HealthShare after an "extensive" tendering process.
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the PhysioHull service with Humber Foundation Trust, also bid for the contract but lost out to the private firm.
PhysioHull has been run by Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust and Humber Foundation Trust since 2011. Staff treat patients at health centres across the city – Highlands Health Centre, the Orchard Centre and Kingswood Surgery to the north, Hull Royal Infirmary, Elliott Chappell Health Centre and Westbourne NHS Centre in the west and Morrill Street Health Centre, Marfleet Primary Healthcare Centre, the Freedom Centre and East Park Health Centre in the east.
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