Social Enterprises

The NHS white paper says:

"Our ambition is to create the largest and most vibrant social enterprise sector in the world." (4.21)

Will it work? According to Becky Malby, Director of the Centre for Innovation in Health Management (CIHM) at Leeds University Business School the answer is no.

"Social enterprises work because they are nimble, socially orientated, and embedded in real need. Our NHS model starting point is completely different. These social enterprises will be the biggest of their kind in the world, and so will need breaking up into smaller services. ...Turning NHS staff into entrepreneurs overnight is highly unlikely particularly given the age profile of community nurses and doctors. If they were going to be entrepreneurs they would have taken that path long ago. It will be hard to break up NHS services turned social enterprises once they have made the move. At best this looks like a cost-shift making the NHS a private sector provider – or possibly a not-for- profit, but that’s not clear."

The last sentence says it all. Lansley is simply privatising NHS hospitals.