DOCTORS TO FIGHT AXING OF CONTRACT - out-of-hours care provider Camidoc mount legal challenge
Published: 27 August 2010
by TOM FOOT
THE not-for-profit group of doctors kicked out of Islington after asking for more funding to treat people on the NHS has launched a legal challenge to the decision.
James Hood, chief executive of out-of-hours care provider Camidoc, told the Tribune he had sent a “letter before claim” to NHS bosses on Friday.
“I am awaiting their response,” he added.
Meanwhile, lawyers acting for a patient are seeking a judicial review.
The Tribune revealed earlier this month how hundreds of doctors and medical staff fear for their jobs after a consortium of four primary care trusts, including NHS Islington, refused to sign a contract with Camidoc, which has been running the out-of-hours service since 1999. Instead, it was replaced by private firm Harmoni.
Hertfordshire-based Harmoni is expected to begin running the out-of-hours service on a nine-month temporary contract from October 1.
More than 100 Camidoc doctors last night (Thursday) had signed a letter opposing the contract decision, criticising the “total lack of transparency” and calling for the changes to be put on hold.
Camidoc, campaigners, health bosses and councillors will debate the decision at Camden Town Hall on Wednesday evening.
Insiders at NHS Camden, which is responsible for delivery of the contract, said about £500,000 was spent on consultancy for out-of-hours commissioning alone.
In March, Camidoc was awarded a £4million contract. It was chosen ahead of Harmoni, which was rated second best in the tendering process. NHS Islington chief executive Helen Petterson said at the time that securing Camidoc’s services would “guarantee high standards”.
But five months later, NHS bosses said they had to drop Camidoc to ensure “the continuity of a safe and viable service”, adding: “In no way was the decision driven by a desire to save money or by a privatisation agenda.”
There were questions over Camidoc’s “financial stability”, the spokesman added.Mr Hood said demand had rocketed in the past year to the point that “it now costs some £70,000 more per month than Camidoc receives in funding”. Harmoni, which unlike Camidoc uses profits to pay a dividend to shareholders, has not replied to requests for information from the New Journal.
Mr Hood said the decision to switch the contract was the result of a “difference of opinion” about why Camidoc had fallen into debt, adding: “Our financial circumstances were well known to the PCTs. It is perverse to refer to these financial difficulties as a reason for not signing the contract.”