A MASSIVE shake-up is planned for large parts of the NHS across the Cotswolds and the rest of Gloucestershire.

The board which runs NHS Gloucestershire has backed the creation of a new social enterprise organisation for the future management of community health care services. This covers community care provided outside of the major hospitals and GP surgeries.

It includes four community hospitals in the Cotswolds at Cirencester, Fairford, Moreton-in-Marsh and Bourton-on-the-Water.

It would also cover district nurses, podiatry, therapy services such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and health visitors.

The plan will now be submitted to NHS South West and the Department of Health for approval in the hope the new body will start on April 1.

Strong opposition is being mounted by trades unions who fear it would lead to a fragmentation of the NHS and be a fore-runner to privatisation.They say would lose employment and pension rights, and patients would suffer a postcode lottery.

"This is not about closing anything or stopping anything, " said an NHS Gloucestershire spokesman.

"The patient needing a home visit will still get it. It will still be an NHS-funded service."

NHS Gloucestershire says the plan ensures that surplus funds must be reinvested in services and the local community.

The new organisation would set out its aims in a ‘statement of purpose’ which would be reviewed each year to ensure there was no shift from its original aims.

Currently unspent money is clawed back by the Government. Under the new plans, unspent money would be re-invested in local services.

A letter to the NHS Board from all the main unions including the RCN, Unison and Unite said:"There is a strong feeling held that this is a first stage to the privatisation of the NHS. All staff have shown loyalty and commitment to their service users, to you as their employer and to a philosophical belief in the NHS and what it stands for.

"There is such a thing as public service ethos. It is why the vast majority of your staff committed themselves to wanting to work for the NHS".

Chief Executive of NHS Gloucestershire Jan Stubbings said: The full business plan has shown that the new social enterprise organisation will provide the highest standards of clinical care, deliver safe services, manage services effectively and live within its means financially.

"The management team for Gloucestershire Care Services will continue to work closely with staff, GPs and community partners to form the new organisation. It is important to stress that NHS patients will continue to access the range of NHS funded community services that are currently available and services would be run by an organisation responsible for delivering the NHS values."

Dr Chris Goldie, a GP from the Phoenix surgery, Cirencester, said: "There are potential advantages and disadvantages. We will work within the system".

Christina Snell, chief executive of Age UK Gloucestershire, said: "No change was not an option, because this is being driven by central government. We will be watching closely that this does not have an adverse effect."