Back in the NHS – Surgical Unit and Eye Clinic To Come Back Home to the Lister Hospital, Stevenage!

Following pressure from local Liberal Democrats, local MP Stephen McPartland and concerned clinicians, the privately run Surgicentre, which provided planned surgery (like knee and hip replacements) and ophthalmology to local NHS patients, is now to be run by the E&N Herts NHS Trust.

In 2006 the then Labour Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, decided to introduce private capital and private management into the Lister site to build and run planned day care and short-stay surgery - including orthopaedics - as well as eye services.

The construction of the building went well enough but the organisation and administration of complex medical services delivered by clinicians, surgeons and nurses to members of the public started going wrong right from the start.

Carillion, a construction and facilities management company, was responsible for design and build and the installation of facilities and fitting out of the building. However the running of the unit was in the hands of Clinicenta Ltd, a Carillion owned subsidiary.

Clinicenta proved completely inadequate as managers and administrators over a number of years, and the parent company seemed unable to step in and put things right. Not surprisingly chronic disorganisation led to concerns for patient safety and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health and care watchdog, has been looking into the circumstances surrounding two deaths and six eye patients who may have suffered significant eye damage because of delayed treatment.

An inspection revealed that the company was not operating an effective health, welfare and safety system. This summer the PCT advised GP's not to refer further patients to the Surgicentre and the CQC was at the point of suspending Clinicenta's licence to operate as a healthcare organisation.

Last month however, the announcement was made that, following a financial settlement worth over £50 million, the NHS has taken over the building and the Surgicentre - now renamed the Treatment Centre - will be run by E&N Herts NHS Trust and fully integrated into the Lister Hospital at Stevenage.

Currently running at between 25 and 50% of capacity, it is hoped the Treatment Centre will again be running at full capacity by the end of November 2013.

County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst (Tring and the Villages) said "This is great news, but of course the Surgicentre should have been within the NHS from the start - after all the West Herts Surgicentre in St Albans has always been NHS owned and run. But we must be fair to the Trust at Lister Hospital. They were never given a choice when Patricia Hewitt forced this privatisation on them.

"Surely by now we must realise that just because something is in the private sector it doesn't automatically mean it will be efficient. Choose your own examples!"

He concluded "We must leave it to future social historians and psychologists to explain the Labour government's obsession with PFI and so-called 'competition' within the NHS. But I call on fellow Liberal Democrats and moderate members of the Conservative Party to stop this same madness spreading within the Coalition Government."