Medequip’s response to the Ministerial statement by Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care following the liquidation of NRS Healthcare
It’s right and proper that organisations representing the voice of members, like TSA and BHTA, respond to ministerial statements such as that made last week by the Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock regarding the financial failure of NRS.
But why would anyone be interested in my view, or that of Medequip? After all, NRS was one of our main competitors and we have been going head-to-head to win contracts from the statutory sector and to sell community equipment directly to people for many years.
But that’s exactly the point of the various laws passed in the House - that competition in the market will drive up quality and innovation at the same time as providing what is confusingly referred to as Best Value.
Even legislation directed to improve arrangements for people who need care and support, most notably the Care Act 2014, put a specific duty on Local Authorities to “manage the market” to ensure not only quality of services, but also choice of services.
Procurement law and other legislation prevent companies from talking to each other to decide how much to charge for services, or to agree what models of service to favour or which areas of the country to work in or not.
But some degree of national coordination may have helped avoid the current situation by increasing scrutiny and transparency, especially when it comes to costs and budgets.
I’m sure there were attempts at this, and it is really important that the statutory sector, from central Government, its Departments, the NHS and Local Government and all the agencies and organisations that support them, work together with people who use services, and the various sector organisations, to make things better for the money we have in the system at the moment…at the same time as working out what is needed in future.
As the good folks at Social Care Future are saying, it’s not all about more money. But it is about starting to think from a different place and I’m looking forward to more of this later this month - People Powered Policy and Action - Social Care Future
If there are any good things to come from this episode, let them be the increased awareness of the importance of Community Equipment, Technology Enabled Care and Wheelchair Services, the need for more partnership working and the central role of people who use services.
That’s our response to the Minister’s statement to the House that explained why, in order to prevent harm to people and the health and social care sector, the public purse will have to pay some of the costs of a private sector failure.