I cannot help but wonder if this is the thin end of the wedge for all the emergency services to start competing for private business and if successful, will this then lead to a multi-tier service? After all, if you are offering service to multiple clients, the obvious reaction is to prioritise looking after those who pay the most.
Although we've had sports clubs and other event organisers paying the emergency services to cover specific locations, is this a foretaste of:
The police competing with private security companies?
The ambulance service competing with St John's and others or providing dedicated cover to private clinics/hospitals?
It looks to me that this is now an attempt to commoditise emergency cover
I cannot help but wonder if this is the thin end of the wedge for all the emergency services to start competing for private business and if successful, will this then lead to a multi-tier service? After all, if you are offering service to multiple clients, the obvious reaction is to prioritise looking after those who pay the most.
Although we've had sports clubs and other event organisers paying the emergency services to cover specific locations, is this a foretaste of:
The police competing with private security companies?
The ambulance service competing with St John's and others or providing dedicated cover to private clinics/hospitals?
It looks to me that this is now an attempt to commoditise emergency cover
The older I get, the better I was
Advice is what we seek when we already know the answer - but wish we didn't
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full-frontal lobotomy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ kirkstaller wrote: "All DNA shows is that we have a common creator."
cod'ead wrote: "I have just snotted weissbier all over my keyboard & screen"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin." - Aneurin Bevan
Post subject: Re: NHS Bill has passed, is this the future for other servic
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:07 am
Dally
International Chairman
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 14845
If the fire service's contract is properly costed and profitable then surely they can just take on extra people for the steelworks and retain full cover elsewhere? They can use any profit to cross-subsidise their other operations.
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Post subject: Re: NHS Bill has passed, is this the future for other servic
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:28 am
cod'ead
International Chairman
Joined: May 25 2002 Posts: 37704 Location: Zummerzet, where the zoider apples grow
Dally wrote:If the fire service's contract is properly costed and profitable then surely they can just take on extra people for the steelworks and retain full cover elsewhere? They can use any profit to cross-subsidise their other operations.
Are you aware of what a "retained" fireman is?
Many brigades have been closing permanently-manned stations and relying more on retained firefighters. As always, the devil will be in the detail. It would be interesting to see the incidence of shouts at the steelworks, compared to outside calls on the brigade's services. I also wonder if a study has been undertaken of the possible effect on reaction times to non-steelworks call-outs, service from the steelworks base.
On a separate but not unrelated note, sad to read of the death of Mick Shaw ex-President of the FBU
Dally wrote:If the fire service's contract is properly costed and profitable then surely they can just take on extra people for the steelworks and retain full cover elsewhere? They can use any profit to cross-subsidise their other operations.
Are you aware of what a "retained" fireman is?
Many brigades have been closing permanently-manned stations and relying more on retained firefighters. As always, the devil will be in the detail. It would be interesting to see the incidence of shouts at the steelworks, compared to outside calls on the brigade's services. I also wonder if a study has been undertaken of the possible effect on reaction times to non-steelworks call-outs, service from the steelworks base.
On a separate but not unrelated note, sad to read of the death of Mick Shaw ex-President of the FBU
The older I get, the better I was
Advice is what we seek when we already know the answer - but wish we didn't
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full-frontal lobotomy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ kirkstaller wrote: "All DNA shows is that we have a common creator."
cod'ead wrote: "I have just snotted weissbier all over my keyboard & screen"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin." - Aneurin Bevan
Post subject: Re: NHS Bill has passed, is this the future for other servic
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:43 am
ROBINSON
Club Coach
Joined: Oct 09 2004 Posts: 14135
It's got its good points and its bad points.
The deal is entirely good if, and only if, you know where to draw the line. Tata's money will no doubt come in very handy in getting the country's debt pile under control.
However, you cannot fall into the trap of the piper's paymaster calling all the tunes when it comes down to the ENTIRE fire service. I think you would have to be pretty unreasonable to think that would happen, though. I'm sure NO government would allow themselves to be exposed to allegations of skimping on safety just to please Tata.
"I've not come 'alfway round t'world fot watch us lose. And I've come halfway round t'world, an' av watched um lose"
Post subject: Re: NHS Bill has passed, is this the future for other servic
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:06 am
Mintball
All Time Great
Joined: May 10 2002 Posts: 47951 Location: Die Metropole
ROBINSON wrote:... I'm sure NO government would allow themselves to be exposed to allegations of skimping on safety just to please Tata.
This government has already declared an attack on health and safety – even though it's also stated that there is no problem with the rules as they exist now, only with some people's interpretation of them.
"You are working for Satan." Kirkstaller
"Dare to know!" Immanuel Kant
"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive" Elbert Hubbard
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde
Post subject: Re: NHS Bill has passed, is this the future for other servic
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:14 am
cod'ead
International Chairman
Joined: May 25 2002 Posts: 37704 Location: Zummerzet, where the zoider apples grow
There's also the added cost, let alone management layer (I thought this lot were in the market of removing bureaucracy?) of commercial experts who are better equipped to handle contract negotiations, tendering etc. The emergency services already employ press officers or contract the services of PR experts. Looks like this could lead to some nice little earners for some
The older I get, the better I was
Advice is what we seek when we already know the answer - but wish we didn't
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full-frontal lobotomy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ kirkstaller wrote: "All DNA shows is that we have a common creator."
cod'ead wrote: "I have just snotted weissbier all over my keyboard & screen"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin." - Aneurin Bevan
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