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Opposition to a landmark decision by a Tory-led council to award a £700m NHS contract to a private firm was growing yesterday.

The Daily Mirror told yesterday how the council handed Virgin Care the contract to run more than 200 NHS services.

Bath and North East Somerset councillors voted in favour of the proposal, which will see adult social care delivered by a private firm for the first time.

The landmark deal would be the first time that a council’s core adult social work services are run by a private company.

Health bosses claim the contract will deliver a more joined-up approach and “seamless communication,” yet the “prime provider” contract could see Virgin subcontract services.

Thousands have already signed a petition by campaign group 38 Degrees Bath opposing plans to “privatise” the services, fearing that Virgin will make cuts “to provide profit.”

Labour’s Paula Sherriff, MP for Dewsbury where a similar scheme has been implemented, has already said she would be raising Virgin’s involvement in social care in a forthcoming debate in Parliament.

A damning report by regulator CQC in 2014 found Virgin Care had put patients at risk when it ran the Urgent Care Centre in Croydon.

The report highlighted a catalogue of failures by the privateers and said that the centre had breached four basic standards of care.

The decision in Bath caused outrage last night with protestors in the council chamber shouting ‘shame’ and booing as the controversial decision was approved with 35 votes to 22.

Bath Cllr Eleanor Jackson, who spoke passionately against the decision in the chamber, said: “Make no mistake about it, what has happened here is the beginning of the privatisation of the NHS in this country.”

Bath and North East Somerset Lib Dem councillor Tim Ball, a member of the health and wellbeing select committee voted against the deal.

(Image: Getty)

Speaking yesterday he said: “The opposition groups were not very happy about it at all.

“We believe it should have had further scrutiny before being approved.

“It is a large step towards the privatisation of the NHS. It is happening in other quarters and it has a creeping affect, gradually spreading.

“It is causing a lot of concern. It’s such a big issue.

“In terms of this contract, we only saw the final bid document a week ago.

“That is not enough time to digest it properly.

“I asked the council member last night to refer it to scrutiny before making a final decision - that was rejected.

“It is the biggest contract Virgin Care have ever been awarded.

“They have no track record of running adult social care and that gives us a lot of concern.

“We are being told very clearly by Virgin Care and by all our officers that any profits they make will go back [into the services].

“But when a service is run by the NHS you have that control - you have control of who gets paid what.

“It’s a concern about whether you get that when you have a company with a top heavy management.”

John Drake regional organiser of Bath and North East Somerset branch of Unison said: “We’ve got concerns this is to be another erosion of the money going into these services.

“£700million sounds like an awful lot of money - and it is an awful lot of money - but it’s the staff aspect we are concerned about.

“Virgin has said they are going to invest in staff but from what we have seen this investment is in IT.

“This is not what we would consider investment in staff should be.

“This is a move towards privatisation of the NHS without a doubt."

Lin Patterson, a Green Party Councillor for Bath and Somerset said: “I am worried that it will be just another nail in the coffin for the NHS in terms of privatisation.

“I think unless people wake up and realise that the Conservative agenda is to privatise the NHS, and has been for decades, and unless people change the national government and pass the NHS Bill that is in parliament now, we won’t be able to take back the NHS.”

Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb told the Mirror: “My fear if that it is driven by cost savings and completely undermines an organisation that was well regarded and well respected locally, providing good quality services through a social enterprise – and then it gets ripped apart by this process.

“It is deeply concerning and I fear for what the consequences will be.”

A Virgin Care spokesman said: “We are really pleased to have been chosen by the council and CCG to deliver more joined-up care for people across Bath and North East Somerset.

“We have a strong track record over the last decade of overseeing integration and improvement of NHS services across England and we’re looking forward to working with the many outstanding professionals, and a range of great partners, to provide and oversee high quality, easy-to-navigate services which are shaped by the people who use them.”