Campaigners in Bath and North East Somerset fear Virgin Care will be “asset stripped” after its shock takeover by a private equity firm.
Protect our NHS has questioned if the £54million-a-year contract extension – signed just weeks before the buyout by Twenty20 Capital but not yet finalised – was still valid and if the new owners remained legally bound to reinvest its profits in community health and care services.
Council and NHS commissioners have brought in a firm to carry out forensic due diligence checks on the company and cabinet member Alison Born said they have an “open mind” about the way forward.
Renamed HCRG Care Group, a spokesperson said residents will see no difference in the care they receive, with the same staff and leadership in place and the same commitment to the contract agreed with Virgin Care in 2016.
Protect our NHS campaigner Pam Richards told Bath and North East Somerset Council health and wellbeing scrutiny panel members on 19th January: “We’re deeply concerned about the possibility of a private equity company now owning and running our community health and social care services.
“We’ve looked at the websites and seen nothing to reassure us these companies are anything other than profit-driven asset strippers who buy and sell on companies with little respect for the services the companies provide or the staff who work for them.”
Committee chair Vic Pritchard said Virgin Care’s takeover was a “tremendous shock” and seemed like a “huge betrayal”.
“We have to be very cautious so we don’t compromise ourselves and the whole service,” he said. “This is the biggest service awarded by the council. There’s reputational damage if we don’t get it right.”
He asked if the council and CCG were looking for a potential new provider.
Councillor Born, the cabinet member for adults, said they had an open mind, adding: “We need to understand the legal position and get the information on the provider. We’re not committed to any particular outcome at the moment.
“The extension has not been signed off. We’re seeking legal opinion on where we stand.
“We’re hoping to get that information in the next few weeks.”
Councillor Rob Appleyard said the services still had to be provided even if the contract extension was scrapped.
Members were told before the extension was agreed that finding a replacement for Virgin Care would be difficult and the process would cost nearly £1million.
Councillor Appleyard said: “They are still the same quality of people delivering good services to our people.
“The only thing that’s changed is the powers that be. There hasn’t been a drop-off in the quality of service.”
Similar reassurance was offered by HCRG Care Group chief executive Dr Vivienne McVey, the former boss of Virgin Care, who said: “We are the same company, with the same business plan and our leadership team, and chief executive, remain the same.
“We continue to be committed to both being a supportive member of the health and care system in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire and to continuing to deliver in the way we always have.
“Our contract, and our contractual commitments, remain the same both in terms of service delivery and our local approach to finances.
“BANES CCG and BANES Council commissioned a service that required the successful provider to reinvest any surplus back into service delivery.
“We have done this since the contract started and we will continue to do so for the duration of the contract in exactly the same manner.”
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
