Revealed: Head of Monitor Has Ties with Private Healthcare Lobby Group Who See Tax, Pensions and NHS Brand as Barrier in 'Fair Playing Field' Review.

The latest unholy mess taking place due to the undemocratic, unnecessary and complicated Health and Social Care Act, is the ‘Fair Playing Field’, review being undertaken by the new NHS regulator, Monitor.

A nine-month process has now seen all the submissions handed in and each organisation is wondering what is going to be the result of the review, come the end of March, this year.

April the 1^st is the time when the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are due to takeover, from the Primary Care Trusts, abolished thanks to the new legislation. The ‘Fair Playing Field’ findings, which will conclude in time for this date, will mark the end of the NHS as we know it and increase the fragmentation of services across the country.

Social Investigations can now reveal a private healthcare group’s submission, which brings to the attention of Monitor the barriers the private sector perceive to achieve a Fair Playing Field, which include corporation tax, VAT, pensions and the NHS brand. The only problem is, this same lobby group were heavily influential in maintaining competition in the Health bill during the sham of a 'so-called 'listening exercise'. Furthermore, this same lobby group had previously met with the head of Monitor in a 'like-minded' meeting, bringing the impartiality of the review into question.

NHS Partners Network Response Regarding Fair Playing Field

Social Investigations - contacted the NHS Partners Network over their submission to Monitor, regarding the 'Fair Playing Field' review currently taking place.

In order to maintain openess - I have listed the entire response without editing here so readers can make their own mind up.

View the NHS Partners Network submission here.

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Let me make it absolutely clear that contrary to some reports at no point have we asked for relief from corporation tax. We have simply pointed out that in undertaking an analysis of the different economic factors that affect public and private sector providers of care, corporation tax is one of those factors that impacts on the private sector, but not on the public sector. We have also made clear that we recognise there are factors that work the other way and we now wait to see how Monitor's wholly independent and impartial analysis concludes the various factors "net out" and whether anything can or should be done about that overall, in the interests of patients not of providers", that being Monitor's remit.