Protest targets private sector roles in NHS plans
Health campaigners will target private company involvement in local NHS plans and threats to emergency care at the first meeting of the Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) in Liverpool this Friday. The ICB will manage £4.8bn of NHS finances for the entire region, with realterm cuts.
“We are outraged that a company director will sit on the ICB and US-owned corporations could be involved in reviewing Liverpool hospitals,” says Keep Our NHS Public Merseyside. “The new Health and Care Act fails to ensure emergency care for everyone present in our area. Patients and NHS staff, Councillors and MPs should demand this is guaranteed in the ICB Constitution.”
Warrington GP Dr Raj Kumar is designated as one of two Primary Care directors for the ICB. Dr Kumar is also a Director of Kleyn Imaging Limited, providing ultrasound, MRI, and digital
radiology as the “imaging arm” of Kleyn Healthcare Limited. Dr Kumar resigned as a director of Kleyn Healthcare on 27 June, but retains a controlling interest in Sycamore Corporation Limited which holds over 75% of shares in Kleyn Healthcare. Kleyn’s website proclaims “Welcome to a world of innovation, enterprise and transformational leadership in healthcare.”
A secretive review of Liverpool hospitals is being commissioned through the Health Systems Support Framework. The cost is “commercially confidential”, and the public cannot view the
specifications. The Framework accredits over 200 companies including US transnational corporations and their subsidiaries. Operose, owned by $111bn-a-year Centene Corporation,
featured in a recent BBC Panorama investigation of GP surgeries using “Physician Associates”
without proper supervision by fully trained GPs. Palantir, founded by Trump supporter Peter Thiel, hopes to be contracted for a system to underpin all NHS data.
“Operose, Palantir and other Framework firms should have no say in reviewing Liverpool hospitals, and the public must be able to see the terms and cost,” says Keep Our NHS Public Merseyside.
Notes to Editors

1. Campaigners from Keep Our NHS Public Merseyside, Save Liverpool Womens Hospital, and
   Defend Our NHS (Wirral) will lobby the ICB from 10am Friday 1 July outside the old Lewis’
   building on Renshaw St. ICB papers: https://www.sthelensccg.nhs.uk/media/4887/220701-icbpapers.
   pdf
2. Health Service Journal (26 April) “Every health system to face real-terms funding cut in 2022-
   23” https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/exclusive-every-health-system-to-face-real-termsfunding-
   cut-in-2022-23/7032346.article. Real term cuts in funding will be higher than the estimates
   in this article as RPI was already 11.7% in May.
   https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/czbh/mm23
3. Previously, Clinical Commissioning Groups were required to ensure the provision of emergency
   care for everyone present in the area. See (1C) in
   https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/41/section/3
   The new Health and Care Act does not mention emergency care.
   https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/31/pdfs/ukpga_20220031_en.pdf
4. Dr Raj Kumar’s appointment is announced in the Board papers and is to be confirmed at the ICB
   meeting on 1 July: https://www.sthelensccg.nhs.uk/media/4887/220701-icb-papers.pdf
   Dr Kumar is the lead GP at the Eric Moore Partnership, Tanners Lane, Warrington
   https://www.ericmoorepartnership.co.uk/
   LinkedIn account https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rajkumaruk
   Dr Kumar: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/
   _BYMb7MBcxpDNrObrNeDR2FPg24/appointments
   Kleyn Imaging Limited: https://www.kleynimaging.co.uk/ and https://find-and-update.companyinformation.
   service.gov.uk/company/08029182
   Kleyn Healthcare Limited: https://www.kleynhealthcare.co.uk/index.aspx and https://find-andupdate.
   company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05945184/persons-with-significant-control
   Sycamore Corporation Limited:
   https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12180802/persons-withsignificant-
   control
5. Liverpool Health and Wellbeing Board responded to questions from Keep Our NHS Public on 16
   June. See questions 6 – 10. https://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/documents/b52488/Public
   %20Questions%20Responses%2016th-Jun-2022%2014.00%20Liverpool%20Health%20and
   %20Wellbeing%20Board.pdf?T=9. Despite the answer to question 6, the review is not mentioned in
   the ICB Board papers.
   Details of the NHS England Health Systems Support Framework are at https://www.england.nhs.uk/
   hssf/ with accredited suppliers at https://www.england.nhs.uk/hssf/supplier-lists/
   BBC Panorama (13 June) reported on Operose https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61759643
   The FT (9 June) reported on Palantir: https://www.ft.com/content/3f6f24f8-9e5c-42c3-8ae6-
   bfef5f953524
6. Keep Our NHS Public is a non-party-political organisation campaigning against the privatisation
   and underfunding of the NHS, with supporters in a network of over 70 local health campaign
   groups. See https://keepournhspublic.com/about-us/. It campaigned against the Health and Care Bill
   and calls for an NHS for people, not for profit:
   https://keepournhspublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/An-NHS-for-people-not-profit-1.pdf

Update! Dr Kumar is not taking up his appointment!!