STROUD campaigners, unions and Stroud MP David Drew have joined forces to fight plans which they claim are ‘back-door privatisation’ of some parts of the NHS in Gloucestershire.

The move comes in response to proposed plans to move an estimated 750 workers at Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals out of NHS employment and into a subsidiary company.

If the plans go ahead then domestics, porters, cleaners, medical engineers and the people who clean surgical and hospital equipment, will no longer be employed by the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Deborah Lee, chief executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, wrote to a Unison official in October saying that setting up a separate company could reduce costs through ‘VAT flexibilities’.

She wrote: “Based on our business case, the establishment of a subsidiary company - employing around 900 of our staff - could create savings in the region of £3.5m per annum or ten per cent of our annual savings requirement – £35m over the 10-year life of a contract.”

This month it was revealed that 19 NHS trusts have already transferred some of their employees into subsidiary companies, and another 16 are currently looking at proposed plans to do so.

James Beecher, from Stroud Against the Cuts said: “We are completely opposed to these complex moves that further fragmentation and privatisation of our NHS.

“NHS bosses claim the move is to save money, but this can only be through either a VAT loophole or by eroding staff terms and conditions," he explained.

“The people who clean and maintain our hospitals are just as essential to the functioning of our NHS as doctors and nurses," he said.

While the trust claims that the terms and conditions of transferred staff would be protected, campaigners are concerned that these protections for existing staff would be weak, and new employees may not be employed under the same conditions or be guaranteed NHS pensions.

Unite regional officer Nick Bailey said: “Creating a two tier workforce will erode morale, and exacerbate recruitment and retention issues that will affect the service provided in Gloucestershire and, ultimately, the public using the NHS.

“We are calling on them to listen to their staff - 800 of whom have already signed a petition against this misguided and flawed plan," he explained.

“The trust should follow the example of North Bristol NHS Trust which rejected a similar plan, following a public outcry.”

David Drew, MP for Stroud, called for the trust to ‘take heed of the decision’ which saw Southmead Hospital reject the same proposed plans.

“The trust’s executives should take heed of the decision made this month in Bristol, where Southmead Hospital scrapped a similar idea to set up its own private company,” said Mr Drew.

“The North Bristol NHS Trust recognised that staff had become ‘anxious’ about the proposals, which would have seen 850 staff transferred to the stand-alone company. Indeed, staff are right to be anxious," he explained.

“We all should be worried about the proposals which will fragment the NHS, open the door to privatisation and inevitably reduce the quality of service,” he warned.

Mr Drew is urging Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust staff to sign a petition organised by UNISON, Unite the Union and Royal College of Nursing in order to show their opposition to the ‘Subco’ move and preserve the integrity of the NHS.

He warned that the proposals are being rushed and that too many vital questions remain unanswered about the ‘Subco’ and that there is insufficient evidence of financial benefits.

“Bristol’s rejection of the plan should inspire Gloucestershire’s health executives. The precedent has been set. The fragmentation is not inevitable,” he said.

Over a hundred protesters are expected at a protest against the proposed plans from 4.30pm today which will take place in Cheltenham outside a meeting held by NHS bosses and trust governors.

A link to the Unison and RCN petition can be found here, and details of todays planned rally can be found here.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been contacted for comment.