"Help! Where's Nanny?" @ No 10?

"Lansley must be sweating!" Arturo chuckled. "He's damned if he does - and damned if he doesn't!"

"Doesn't what?" I asked.

"Meddle with this breast implant business!"

I decided to do a bit of investigating myself. It seems that private health care providers have got themselves into a jam over the breast implant affair. It may well have dire consequences for the new Health and Social Care Bill.

Most women who wanted enlargement of their breasts to enhance their self-esteem had this performed in private health clinics. Women who needed reconstructive surgery, after mastectomy, largely had this performed under the NHS. So far, so good, no dangers for 'Silver Fox' Lansley.

It now turns out that a French company called Poly Implant Protheses (PIP) supplied many of the implants over the last ten years. Instead of using medical grade silicon, they used industrial-grade silicon for the breast implants! I'm not sure I would fancy any silicon under my skin, thank you very much, but industrial-grade silicon is the pits!

That's exactly how the women felt too, when the facts were discovered. Not unnaturally, the women wanted the implants out and new ones put in!

Here comes the dilemma for our 'Silver Fox' Lansley, Secretary of State for Health. The French Government, facing an election this year, declared that every woman who wanted to have the implants removed, would be entitled to have this done at no cost to her. It seems that the French Government will cover the not inconsiderable expenditure. There are 30,000 women in France who may require the procedure. There are votes to be gained from this seeming altruistic act! Now, several other European countries have followed the French example. So what about here in the UK?

The UK is slap bang in the middle of a vast campaign to change the very nature of the NHS. Many health professionals see this as an attempt to privatise the entire service, despite Lansley's risible grunts of: 'No, it isn't!'

Now - along comes the ideal litmus test for the private health care providers to show what they're made of. Surely they will demonstrate the care and attention they pay to patients' needs. If so, the rest of us will be able to applaud and demand that these private health care providers take over the tattered old NHS. What an ace this would be for Lansley and his new Health and Social Care Bill!

So, guys and gals, how did they do? Did they provide the shining example of integrity and the duty of care? Well ... er ... no, actually!

Let's see what some of their leaders actually did say. The Chairman of the Harley Medical Group, Mel Braham, declared to the BBC:

"We don't have the resources to re-implant"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16510507

Yet, for over ten years, the Harley Medical Group made a good living, a very good living, carrying out almost 14,000 such PIP breast implants. Now, however, Mr Braham sounds quite distraught implying that if they were required to fulfill their obligations, the company would be in dire straits!

He obviously has not consulted his legal team or read the Sale of Goods Act 1979:

When you buy goods you enter into a contract with the seller of those goods. Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 goods must be:
'as described',
'of satisfactory quality', and
'fit for purpose' – this means both their everyday purpose, and also any specific purpose that you agreed with the seller ...

Goods sold must also match any sample you were shown in-store, or any description in a brochure.

... In most cases, your rights are against the retailer – the company that sold you the product – not the manufacturer, and so you must take any claim against the retailer.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/understanding-the-sale-of-goods-act/your-rights/

Mel, these ladies want to return their faulty breast implants! The implants were not 'of satisfactory quality' nor were they 'fit for purpose' So - whatcha gonna do?

At this point - up to the podium steps our hero, Lansley. He declares that all the private health providers 'have a duty of care' to their patients. Ipso facto, they should replace the faulty implants. However, we know that the Harley Medical Group cannot or will not do this. Another clinic, Transform, is vacillating about the issue but seems likely to charge any unfortunate woman who wants the PIP implant taken out.

What will our hero, Lansley, do about these reluctant private health care providers ? He told the Guardian:

“We will pursue them extremely aggressively through the courts. We will go after them.”

The Guardian also reported:

The health secretary is inviting women refused free help to go to their GP, who will refer them to an NHS hospital for removal - although not replacement - if requested. However, Mr Lansley said taxpayers should not be meeting the cost and believes the private clinics are ignoring legitimate claims for help.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9009103/Health-Secretary-vows-to-sue-private-clinics-who-refuse-to-remove-faulty-implants.html

It now seems it is likely to cost tax-payers a lot of dosh to clear up the scandal created by these private health care providers! As one headline in the Daily Telegraph said:

Breast implant scandal taxpayers face £100 million bill : 9 in 10 women will use NHS; Nine in 10 women who had private breast enlargement operations with faulty implants are likely to have to resort to the NHS to get them removed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9008345/Breast-implant-scandal-9-in-10-women-will-use-NHS.html

£100 million! Oh dear! Mr Lansley just pause for a moment in your wild headlong rush to unravel the NHS.

Will he do this? I ask myself. Mr Lansley and many others in the Tory Party have a pet hate. They abhor what they refer to as the 'Nanny State'. Their belief is that the market will 'rule OK'. But events last year showed all too clearly the falsity of that axiom. Sadly, not only is it wrong, it has disastrous consequences for vulnerable people.

The fiasco of the Southern Cross Care Homes highlighted the flaw in the argument that the market performs best. The Guardian in December had the headline:

MPs fear rerun of Southern Cross care home scandal

Committee says government has failed to make clear what will happen if another provider gets into financial difficulty

The article stated that:

Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who chairs the public accounts committee, said: "Local authority budgets are shrinking and large-scale providers are racking up debt – Four Seasons Health Care, for instance, carries nearly £1bn of debt – yet the department is not monitoring their financial health.

"It is deeply worrying that the department has not made clear what will happen when providers fail. This is crucial to protect frail and vulnerable users of care."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/06/mps-fear-rerun-southern-cross-scandal

The key phrase here is: 'the department has not made clear what will happen when providers fail'. The same statement would equally apply to the breast implant debacle. Certain 'providers' will fail and again will call for 'Nanny'?

Fortunately Nanny in the form of the NHS is still around to pick up the pieces and give succour. However, if Lansley and his chums have their way, Nanny will be defunct like the Dead Parrot. What will happen then?

When I told Arturo my conclusions, he shook his head sadly. Funny lot, these political humans!

'Bye'