The future of thousands of health workers in Cambridgeshire and the services they provide , including local hospitals like Brookfields in Cambridge, could be run by private contractor SERCO next year according to reports in Health Service Journal today.

HSJ says:  “Serco is preparing to bid for the contract to run community services in Cambridgeshire as it seeks to extend its work in that sector, the company’s director of community services Sharon Colclough has indicated to HSJ. Ms Colclough, in an exclusive interview with HSJ, said it was likely to bid for services currently run by Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust, which were put out to tender last month.”

Cambridge Labour Parliamentary Candidate Daniel Zeichner has been highlighting the issue over recent months, but was told at a Board meeting of Cambridgeshire Community Services in March that it was still unclear whether services would have to be tendered:

“It is now clear that the Coalition promises that it would be down to local GPs to determine whether services would be privatised were worthless. The process is under way in Cambridgeshire, with absolutely no say for local people. I see no evidence that service users or staff want their NHS services provided by a private company. This is a completely unnecessary distraction at a time when the local NHS faces huge challenges.”