NEW plans to ‘privatise’ large sections of health services across East Lancashire have been revealed.

The move to put £53million of contracts up for tender has already been met by criticism, with health campaigners saying they are concerned profits will be put before patients.

One said he feared the move was ‘another nail in the coffin of our glorious NHS’.

Documents obtained by the Lancashire Telegraph reveal which services will be up for grabs from 2014, including podiatry, psycological therapies and skin treatments, under new rules brought in by the government.

The GP groups which pay for primary care in the area said they believe the move will provide ‘better value or outcomes for patients’.

But critcs said it would be a ‘bonanza’ for healthcare companies, and amounted to ‘privatisation of the NHS by stealth’.

The concerns came as the NHS 111 phone service was thrown into turmoil due to its main provider wanting to withdraw from its contract, leading the British Medical Association to call for a rethink over competitive tendering.

The government’s controversial health reforms mean 39 services can now be run by ‘any qualified provider’ [AQP], with health authorities, charities and private companies all able to bid for the contracts.

Sean Gibson, regional organiser for the Unison workers’ union in Lancashire, said: “We would want as many as possible, if not all, of these services to remain in-house.

“Private companies will see profit in it, and that usually comes at the expense of the service users and staff, because the money is made by driving down the staff supply. This is privatisation of the health service by stealth.”

The clinical commissioning groups [CCGs] for Blackburn with Darwen and East Lancashire, which manage NHS budgets, released the documents after a Freedom of Information request. They list the services open to AQP, along with the current providers and contract values.

Five of the largest contracts are for: * Opthamology (eye care) - £6.8m in East Lancashire and £2.7m in Blackburn with Darwen * Pain services - £2.4m in East Lancashire and £1.1m in Blackburn with Darwen * Dermatology - £3.4m in East Lancashire and £1.3m in Blackburn with Darwen * Musculoskeletal - £1.8m in East Lancashire and £310k in Blackburn with Darwen * CT scans - £1m in East Lancashire and £400k in Blackburn with Darwen Russ McLean, chairman of the Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group, said: “This will be a bonanza for private companies from across the UK if these services are tendered, and another nail in the coffin of our glorious NHS.

“Multi-national companies often swoop in and have the financial backing to undercut smaller firms.”

However, Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said: “I think there’s potential here to improve the quality of health services. I don’t see the difference as long as the focus remains on quality and the service remains free at the point of entry, which it will.”

He said some of the best care in the country was given by independent providers, such as the Age UK charity.

A joint statement the CCGs said: “Where we believe that better value or outcomes for patients can be secured by putting services out to tender then we will take that action.

“However, it is important to recognise that any decision to tender will be taken on a service by service basis and we will listen carefully to the views of patients and our GP membership in reaching any decision.

“We are also mindful that significant costs are associated with procurement which need to be taken into account before deciding to tender and, not least, we believe that in commissioning services, providers should be able to work together to make services simpler and more effective for the people who use them.”

Chris Clayton, clinical chief officer for Blackburn with Darwen CCG, said three AQP contracts were already operated by private contractors in the borough and have helped to reduce waiting times for ultrasound investigations and hearing aid tests, and reduced the number of people having to go to hospital for minor dental surgery.