David Cameron is accused of a 'sham listening exercise' on NHS reform after links to lobbyist are revealed

This article appears in the Observer. See Archive in July and August for more details on this research.

The coalition has been accused of presiding over a sham "listening exercise" on NHS reform last year, as a leaked document reveals how the private health lobby worked with Downing Street behind the scenes to ensure that the new legislation went ahead.

David Worskett, the industry's chief lobbyist, cleared his group's public statements with officials and was personally thanked by No 10 for arranging the publication of a letter from clinicians in support of the reforms during the key "pause" period last year, called to reflect on the proposed reforms.

A series of phone calls between the lobbyist and Downing Street's health adviser was followed by a welcome "addition" to a major speech by the prime minister, according to a five-page document written for members of the private healthcare lobby group. The government claimed at the time that it would call a temporary halt to its efforts to introduce more competition within the NHS through its controversial health and social care bill. The prime minister told doctors and nurses: "We are taking this time to pause, to listen, to reflect and to improve our NHS modernisation plans. Let me be clear: this is a genuine chance to make a difference."



But in the document, obtained by the website Social Investigations, Worskett, director of NHS Partners Network, the lobby group representing companies such as Circle and Care UK, wrote: "I did brief the new No 10 health policy adviser very fully, and indeed 'cleared' our materials with him. I have had several other 'stock take' phone conversations with him.

"We are certainly on No 10's radar – I received an invitation to the PM's big speech last Monday and went. (Incidentally, for those who had the pre-event text, he specifically added a sentence about the importance of patients being able to attend private hospitals if they wanted to, provided NHS standards and prices were being met)."

Intriguingly, Sir Stephen Bubb, whom the government selected to lead a review of the role of competition in the NHS, wrote on his blog at the time: "Just as I was signing off our panel's report on 'Delivering real choice' I get sent a copy of the PM's speech announcing he was accepting many of our key recommendations (although we haven't actually given him the report yet!) … I am unclear why he thought it was a good idea to pre-announce acceptance of much of our report, but it is welcome."

The briefing document also suggests that Bubb, who was chosen by the government to provide an independent report as part of the coalition government's listening exercise, met Worskett to help direct the approach that he would take.

The lobbyist also claimed to have been congratulated on his lobbying by the head of the NHS forum leading the listening exercise, Steve Field.

Worskett wrote: "I had one lengthy, very early discussion with Sir Stephen Bubb at which we agreed on the approach he would take, what the key issues are, and how to handle the politics. He has not deviated from this for a moment throughout the period.

"We organised a letter from our Clinical Forum, on behalf of the 45,000 clinicians who do NHS work from the independent sector, to Steve Field. This was powerful. Steve himself told me how useful and well argued it was and No 10 also thanked me for it."

Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said the document "confirms what many have long suspected to be the case – that the highest levels of government were in talks with cheerleaders for private healthcare on how to ram the privatisation of the NHS through parliament". He added: "We have it in black and white that David Cameron's 'listening exercise' was a sham – he wilfully ignored overwhelming concerns and stuck to his privatisation plans."

Bubb said it was a nonsense to claim that he was "engaged in some sort of conspiracy", adding that it was his role to talk to all parties.

A spokesman for the NHS Partners Network said there was agreement between the government, Bubb and the lobby group, but denied that the process was a sham. He said: "We 'cleared' points with No 10 in the sense that we sought to ascertain the extent to which they were consistent with the government's own thinking, not with the intention or need to secure approval.

"Sir Stephen Bubb has always been wholly independent, so there was absolutely no question of 'telling' him to do anything."

A joint statement from Downing Street and the Department of Health said: "It is nonsense to suggest that the NHS listening exercise was not genuine and robust. This government is committed to protecting an NHS that is universal and free at the point of use.

"Government ministers, officials and the NHS Future Forum met with a large number of representatives from all areas of health and social care during the listening exercise. As you would expect, this included representatives from the private sector."

Further reading:
Over 200 parliamentarians have financial links to companies involved in private healthcare: More
Telegraph's involvement in 'listening exercise' sham. More
Sir Stephen  Bubb and his collusion. More
NHS Partners Network: Who are they? More 
Attacks on the NHS: Article roundup. More

Article Roundup - Attacks on Society, Deceit and Dirty Business

Every now and again I do an article roundup to bring together key articles from a couple of months work.

The first roundup focused on the Lords research and the healthcare takeover of parliament
More...

The second roundup was dedicated to  lobbying following the discovery of a document from a healthcare lobbying group that told the tale of how Sir Stephen Bubb played his part in changing the face of the NHS. In addition it looked at the daily Telegraph’s role in helping promote the message of ‘competition’. More...

This roundup looks at the political connections of two Think Tanks that silently go about producing policy that the government so readily take onboard to leverage public resources into the private companies that fund them. Reform, the BBC, Policy Exchange, Wonga are all in here, as is David Cameron and how the government accepted the recommendations of the ‘Choice and Competition’ working group of the NHS Future Forum before they received the final report. Democracy in this country is in a fragile state.

Please pass on this blog to anyone you know.

1. ‘Just as I was signing off our Panel's report on " Delivering real choice" I get sent a copy of the PM speech announcing he is accepting many of our key recommendations (although we haven't actually given him the report yet!) More…

2. Sir Stephen Bubb was a key figure in ensuring private healthcare remained in the Health and Social Care Act following the so-called ‘listening period.’ Read about how he bumped in Lansley and got briefed before appearing on the Health and Social Care bill Committee. More…

3. Policy Exchange Links to the Conservative Party. They are a think tank with charity status, but predominantly dream up ideas for privatising. They are meant to be politically ‘independent’, but are linked solely to the Conservative party. More here…

4. Reform are according to their website 'keen to involve corporate organisations in our research because their expertise is often left out of the Whitehall policy discussion.’ – See why this is a lie with reports on Aviva, BMI Healthcare, G4Sand see why this makes them a conduitto privatisation. You can also see which of their corporate partners are linked to Lords and MPs. More…

5. The BBC failed the people of the UK for whom they are meant to inform. A new report analyses the key stories they missed including the Lords and MPs research. How the BBC betrayed the NHS. More…

6. A Complaint was sent to the Charity Commission over the free market think tank Reform. The complaint focused on their political independence and their linksto the Conservative party. The second part of the complaint looked at misleading statements made on their website. We await their response. More...

7. The government want to privatise probations, and it is all linked into the Police Commissioner elections, which will act as an opportunity to pressurise local leaders to outsource other areas such as the fire brigade, the police, ambulance services, of which Reform suggest Police Commissioners should be in charge. More…

8. It takes a certain kind of person to run a company that takes advantage of people in desperate times, to squeeze money out of them when they have nowhere else to go. The kind of person who would do such a thing, should be admonished by society for preying on the needy however, this government, who receives money from one of their main funders, sees him as a person to go to for advice and to send senior advisers to lobby on the company's behalf. More…

Cameron Accepted NHS Future Forum’s Recommendations before the Report was Finished

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Just in case you were left with any doubts that the so-called ‘listening period’ was a genuine attempt to er…listen, then another dose of evidence has come to light, that will surely cure such crazy thoughts.

The evidence comes in the form of a post written on the blog by the head of the ‘Choice and Competition’ working group of the NHS Future Forum, Sir Stephen Bubb.

Posted on the 7^thJune 2011, under the title ‘Of one mind!’ Mr Bubb was announcing the end of the working group’s role in the Health bill ‘pause’, by producing the ‘Choice and Competition report.

In the opening paragraph of the post, Bubb produces this extraordinary confession:

‘Just as I was signing off our Panel's report on " Delivering real choice" I get sent a copy of the PM speech announcing he is accepting many of our key recommendations (although we haven't actually given him the report yet!) His comments on the role of competition which can drive choice and better quality is spot on. As also are the comments on the need for integration of services in health and social care and on the role of Monitor.…I am unclear why he thought it was a good idea to pre announce acceptance of much of our Report, but it is welcome.’

Readers of this blog, will already know that the so-called ‘listening exercise’ was a sham thanks to the appearance of a document emanating from a private healthcare lobby group called NHS Partners Network (NHSPN). The memo, which was meant for the network member’s eyes only, revealed how Sir Stephen Bubb met in secret with the director of the NHSPN, David Worskett. At the meeting Worskett and Bubb had ‘agreed on the approach he (Bubb) would take, what the key issues are, and how to handle the politics.’ According to the memo, ‘he had not deviated from this for a moment.’

This statement, which clearly implicated Bubb as a collaborator on behalf of the private healthcare group, was just part a series of meetings that were all aimed at increasing access to private health companies.

The NHS Partners Network according to their 2007/08 Annual report, were heavily involved in lobbying early on, having met then shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley in 2007 to discuss the ‘Conservative party draft bill’. In October 2010, before parliament had seen the bill, Simon Burns (the Minister for Health), Earl Howe, and Andrew Lansley’s Special Advisor, Bill Morgan, attendedtwo meetings with Worskett. In the meeting, Earl Howe offered a ‘depiction’ of the ‘Government position’, that meant ‘“choice” was a non-negotiable.’

Some democracy. Not only did a lobby director get reassured on competition remaining in the bill before it had been discussed in parliament, but the head of a forum who was meant to be ‘listening’, had made an agreementwith the same organisation that had aided Lansley with the bill’s draft in the early days. Then to top it all off, we now can see that before the report had even been signed off, the Prime Minister’s speech had accepted the recommendations.

It is not just the so-called ‘listening exercise’ that is a sham, but our democracy too.