Update on the CAMIDOC situation

Yesterday, 7th September 2010, David Lammy (MP for Tottenham) pressed the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley MP, to intervene in the Camden, Haringey, Hackney & City and Islington PCTs decision to transfer the out-of-hours GP services used by 950,000 people from a GP-run, not-for-profit co-operative to private care provider Harmoni without consulting either local doctors or residents.

The Secretary of State replied by saying:

“We want to involve GPs much more in commissioning out-of-hours services. I will undertake to look at what is proposed by the PCTs in North London and see whether it is consistent with the development we are looking for in the White Paper.”

David Lammy had previously said:

“The government is auctioning off our NHS brick-by-brick. They’ve replaced a not-for-profit service run by local people, for local people, with a private provider that has never worked in the local area.”

“The government have rushed this out over the summer on purpose so local people weren’t even consulted – what happened to the Big Society?”

“Patients are being put at risk by a for-profit company putting cost before care.”