16.09.16
Swindon health and care provider closes down after handing over contract early
A social enterprise established to provide health and social care in Swindon will close down after cancelling its community healthcare contract early.
SEQOL, an employee and GP-owned company, will solvently cease trading after handing over its contract to Great Western Hospitals NHS FT and Swindon Borough Council on 1 October.
It originally intended to hold the contract until 18 February 2017 after being given notice by Swindon CCG, but then said it had to end the arrangement early because of financial pressure.
Explaining the decision, Heather Mitchell, SEQOL’s chief executive, said: “SEQOL’s financial position has become more challenging since we formed in 2011, which is also true of similar organisations delivering health and social care services across the country.
"This national financial position has made it become clear recently that larger organisations are better placed to meet the growing cost efficiencies that are being required.”
Mitchell now said that the company “can’t continue to trade” without the contract and would “be wound up”.
She added that she was “very proud” of SEQOL’s five years of work, saying it had “consistently exceeded year on year targets” while maintaining a vacancy rate below the national average.
In a statement, Swindon CCG said handing over the contract early meant the services transfer could take place before winter, and staff could be embedded at the new providers.
A spokesman for Great Western Hospitals NHS FT added: “For Swindon this next chapter is all about creating a more joined up service for patients, whether in hospital, in their own homes or elsewhere.
"While this won't happen overnight, this interim period is an opportunity to learn more about the opportunities and challenges ahead, prior to a longer term contract being agreed.”
Monitor, as NHS Improvement was then known, announced an investigation into Great Western Hospitals in January after a CQC inspection raised concerns about safety provisions in its A&E department.
Cllr Brian Ford, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for adults’ health and social care, said: “I would like to reassure everyone who currently receives care from SEQOL that they will not be affected by the transfer of services back to the council.
“They will still receive those services in the same way from the same people, and no-one should notice any change when services transfer at the end of this month.”
He also welcomed the former SEQOL staff coming to work for Swindon Borough Council, saying they would maintain the same employment terms and rights.
In an appearance before the Public Accounts Committee yesterday, Simon Stevens, the CEO of NHS England, said that there are likely to be more multi-organisation partnerships to deliver healthcare in the future as a way of addressing NHS funding problems.
However, he said these partnerships should learn the lessons of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG’s failed contract with UnitingCare to deliver older people’s services.
(Image c. Barry Batchelor from PA Archive and Press Association Images)
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