by Peter Lazenby and Steve Sweeney

HEALTH bosses in Yorkshire were attacked by Unite yesterday for handing a multi-million pound community care contract to the private sector despite a lower bid from an NHS provider.

The contract will transfer 700 NHS jobs to the private sector.

Health union Unite says the awarding of the contract by East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to City Health Care Partnership (CHCP) “undermines the ethos” of the NHS.

CHCP describes itself as a “for better profit” co-owned health and care provider. The firm claims to be run as a John Lewis-style social partnership, however campaigners have blasted the model as a step toward privatisation.

Former Tory cabinet minister Francis Maude encouraged employee-owned mutuals, saying they were the future of public services, suggesting public-sector staff could take over the services they provide.

However the John Lewis model has proved controversial in the NHS, with the Hinchingbrooke Hopital franchise collapsing as privateers Circle Health walked away less than three years into a 10-year franchise deal.

The five-year East Riding contract will cost the NHS £27 million a year.

A less costly bid was submitted by current provider Humber NHS Foundation Trust, but was rejected by the CCG which claimed there had been “a robust procurement process … conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner.”

It confirmed the outcome was legally binding and said it offers value for money.

Unite said that the benchmark for awarding NHS contracts should be “best value for money,” but that it appeared this had not been applied by the CCG.

Unite regional officer Malcolm Hancock said: “City Health Care Partnership describes itself as a ‘better profit business’ which can be interpreted as it is a business keen to make a big profit out of the NHS.

“What is happening is a systematic undermining of the NHS ethos. This is reinforced by media reports that nurses and therapists are quitting their jobs at the Humber trust since this contract was awarded to a healthcare firm outside the NHS.

“These NHS professionals are protesting at the continued privatisation of the NHS by voting with their feet.

“We think that serious questions need to be asked about the mechanics of how this controversial contract was awarded.”

The CCG was engulfed in a row last week when it advertised for media consultants to run a “guerrilla marketing” campaign to “turn down the noise” about NHS cuts.