King’s Fund NHS report is tilting at windmills‏

UNISON has criticised the 2009 Windmill report of the King’s Fund. Windmill is a think tank process in which private sector interests are well embedded and unsurprisingly it recommends “commissioners and providers need to grasp opportunities to work with the independent and third sectors, where these can make a contribution to innovation and improvement.” http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/research/publications/windmill_2009.html

UNISON Head of Health, Karen Jennings, said: “the report's findings on the advantages of working with the private sector do not come as a surprise, given the involvement of a number of private healthcare providers in producing it. That is what has generated so many off the wall and frankly damaging findings in the “Windmill” report. At a time of financial pressure the last thing the NHS should be doing is wasting more money on the red tape of the market: transaction costs, advertising, tendering, etc.”
http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1667