Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The NHS, EU competition rules and social enterprises

I had mixed feelings reading in the Financial Times that NHS services procured by PCTs etc are likely to become subject to EU single market and competition rules.

This should ensure that competition and contestability inject more innovation and value-for-money into our NHS. On the other hand, I would be disappointed if these rules prevented the Department of Health providing support to not-for-profit social enterprises run by professionals (and ideally with accountability to patients and communities).

Social enterprises are developing new and novel models of managing provision - they need support when up against BUPA, Nuffield etc.

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