We are opposed to the decision by a committee of South East London GPs to send GP requests for medical tests to the private pathology lab run by SYNLAB Ltd rather than to the existing NHS, publicly provided alternative.

We call on South East London Clinical Commissioning Group, the Lewisham and Greenwich Cabinet members for Health and the Lewisham and Greenwich CCG Borough Place Boards to carry out the consultations, to document and prove that quality and due care will be maintained by SYNLAB, and in the light of these to reconsider their decision.

We protest at the failure to document and prove that quality and due care will be maintained by SYNLAB;

We protest at the loss of trained and committed NHS staff and of long standing NHS expertise.

We protest at the lack of public consultation;

We protest at the failure to consult with staff before the decision was taken

BACKGROUND

1.         What is pathology?

Pathology services examine and test human body tissues and fluids (eg blood samples, biopsies) to enable doctors to diagnose and treat patents accurately. Around 300,00 tests are carried out daily, amounting to 630m tests each year or 14 tests a year for each person in England and Wales. The results are used in 70% of all patient diagnoses and the service costs the NHS £2.5billion annually.

2.         Local pathology services

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust has established a centralised pathology services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich. In June 2020, it announced that it would join the East and South East London NHS Pathology partnership with Barts, Homerton and the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust. This was done with the aim of keeping its pathology services within the NHS and was in line with government recommendations.

The other main pathology partnership in south east London is formed of Kings and the Guys and St Thomas’s hospitals trust, and in 2009 this partnership outsourced its pathology services to a public private partnership with Serco called Viapath. In October 2020 the contract was awarded to SYNLAB UK and Ireland. This is a 15 year contract worth £2.5bn over that period.

3.         South East London GPs

The South East London Clinical Commissioning Group is a committee of local GPs who decide how the NHS budget at their disposal is spent. They decided in September 2020 to send GP pathology requests to SYNLAB rather than to the existing NHS path labs at QEH. This is perverse as it means the same patient could have one set of tests done through his/her GP at a private lab, while the NHS lab does the tests requested for the same patient by Lewisham hospital and QEH.

4.         SYNLAB

SYNLAB Ltd is a multinational company operating across Europe and Latin America. Its UK business is a tiny fraction of it overall revenue. Its most recent accounts show an operating profit of €83 million, however, overall its accounts show a loss because the company is loaded with debt. Nevertheless it paid €5m in dividends, it paid its highest paid director €3m total remuneration and ‘key management’ personnel were paid €12m in ‘short term benefits’ and share based payments.