NURSES and other staff working for NHS community services in Yarmouth and Waveney do not know whether they will be working for the NHS or a private company in future.
NURSES and other staff working for NHS community services in Yarmouth and Waveney do not know whether they will be working for the NHS or a private company in future.
Because the government wants to introduce more competition into healthcare - which can include private companies delivering services - all primary care trusts are changing their structure. They are splitting themselves into a commissioning body, which organises and pays for health services, and a provider, which delivers services like district nursing, school nurses, health visitors, speech and language, prison dental and nursing services, and many more.
NHS Norfolk has already chosen to set up a community foundation trust, which will keep staff in the NHS. But NHS Yarmouth and Waveney has been told its community services are too small to set up a community foundation trust. The 500 staff will transfer to a new service but it is not yet known if that will be in the NHS or not. The trust is going to hold a procurement process where different organisations, including councils and private companies, will be able to bid to take over the services.
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