FOI reveals Lansley lies, DH colludes, re South-West pay cartel

A few weeks ago I wrote about the government-sanctioned cartel that has been formed to attack the pay and conditions of NHS workers in South-West England, and the FOI request I submitted to try to uncover evidence of collusion and co-ordination between the Department of Health and the ‘Consortium’ or its member Trusts.

I’ve received a response from the Dept of Health. Kind of. According to the DH FOI team, I’m supposed to believe that the entire communication since 16/7/2011 consists of 3 (heavily-redacted) emails on a single day, plus one phone-call on the same day, mentioned in one of the emails – if it’s true that this represents all its communication with a group representing almost 10% of the country’s NHS Trusts, then the DH is certainly not doing its job properly. However, even in this minimal response, there’s still evidence of positive collusion not only between the DH and the SW pay cartel, but also including NHS Employers, the entity heading national NHS pay negotiations.

Here’s the text of the 3 emails the DH sent me:

The repeated ‘s.40’ references flag information that has been removed under Section 40 of the FOI Act on the basis that they reveal personal information that would not otherwise be in the public domain. I can understand that this might apply to email addresses etc, but surely not to the mere names of officials, so I’ve challenged this. But let’s get to the real significance of the minimal information received.

1) Most importantly, the emails prove that on Tues 10 July – 6 days before Andrew Lansley commented on the cartel’s plans to cut pay by stating publicly ‘I have made it clear that we are not proposing any reductions in pay as a consequence. I do not believe they are necessary or desirable in achieving the efficiency challenge‘ – Health Ministers (as well as the Chief Exec of the NHS) had been briefed on the Cartel’s plans and had declared themselves content!

2) Lansley’s department was agreeing to co-ordinate media communication with a group with the expressed aim of driving down wages and which has even threatened to sack staff who refuse to accept cuts in pay and holidays and extended working hours. Now, based on the Tories’ opinion that Jeremy Hunt’s  desire to co-ordinate the handling of the media on the BSkyb takeover with News International was not a problem, we know that they find this kind of thing quite acceptable. But for anyone with a brain and some integrity, it’s absolutely clear that this level of collusion completely undermines Lansley’s claims that the ‘Consortium’ is acting on its own with no input from the DH.

3) Not only is the DH colluding with the cartel to manage media communications regarding the cartel’s activities, but the DH asks the cartel to co-ordinate its plans, activities & communications with ‘NHS Employers’, the group responsible for national NHS pay negotiations – and which is part of the NHS Confederation, a body which includes and is strongly influenced by private healthcare providers. NHSE has taken a public stance of disagreeing with localised pay structures, but its reasons for this have been more to do with the difficulties of retaining staff if they might move to neighbouring areas. Co-ordination between the cartel and NHSE strongly suggests an attempt to undermine national pay discussions while appearing to be supportive of them, and that ways are being sought to drive down regional pay while minimising the risk of staff moving to other areas where pay is better.

Personally, I believe that in spite of the DH’s attempt to minimise and edit the information it has provided in response to my FOI request, what it has provided is still explosive – because it clearly demonstrates the DH’s collaboration with the South-West pay cartel, and suggests a wider agenda that seeks to use the cartel ‘pilot project’ to mount a national (possibly disguised) attack on the pay, terms and conditions of our doctors, nurses and other health-workers.

(To send a message to the government that you despise its NHS ‘reforms’, which are clearly designed to dismantle and sell off what is one of our nation’s greatest achievements and treasures, please sign this petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/petition-to-repeal-the-health-social-care-act-nhs-a.html)