Another corporate beast behind 'NHS Logistics' privatisation

Most people will have heard about the selling off of a massive area of the NHS to the private 'German' distributor, DHL, who this month are poised to takeover (from NHS Logistics) the warehousing and supply of thousands of items used by NHS hospitals and GP surgeries across the country. What is less widely mentioned in the press, perhaps as it's not as obvious in terms of effect on front-line public sector jobs, is that a massive US procurement operation Novation is also behind the new contract. Brought in to save money we are told, this Texan based company is under investigation by the US justice department for overcharging federal healthcare programmes for goods!

Novation - 'group purchaser' for health products

Procurement in modern capitalist-speak is about making purchasing as cheap as possible. This mostly means driving down producers to the lowest prices and dumping them when they can't go any lower. Like the supermarkets who go about fair-trade (a very tiny fraction of their goods), Novation will go on about 'quality' and 'safety' while getting supplies from wherever in the world they can, as long as its cheap. This is not to say that NHS Logistics weren't doing this already, but Novation has promised to purchase NHS supplies even more 'efficiently', and you don't get billons of pounds of savings (never mind the vast sums that they and DHL will make in profit) without cutting corners somewhere.

Working conditions of people involved in manufacturing or distribution will always be secondary. So this privatisation is an attack not just on NHS staff in Britain who will see their jobs go over to the under-unionised private sector, but on workers in countries like China who are doing the cheaper manufacturing. Many employees of suppliers in Britain may also be dumped when these companies go under at the whim of Novation. All these workers will suffer from this change in supply of medical goods - part of a much larger programme of public sector 'waste' reduction that will continue to blur the distinction between state-run and private services.

The initial response from healthworkers has been encouraging but commercialisation of NHS seems to be carrying on regardless of well-attended demonstrations & strikes (and pointless, it has to be said, lobbying of the Labour Party conference by the unions). It is clear that continued solidarity and direct action will be needed to protect working conditions in the future.

Links:
Wide U.S. Inquiry Into Purchasing for Health Care (21 Aug 2004):