A-levels in Managing Burger restaurants and privatised GP clinics

OK I blogged too much yesterday but just wanted to cover this - yesterday morning I dashed off a news comment re Government plans for Mc-GCSEs - see here.

Photo: Randwick tree

The Government has given the go-ahead for McDonalds, FlyBe and Network Rail to have branded educational qualifications - this is not healthy as unions and others have pointed out - and risks channelling students into very specific work placements, which could then lock them irreversibly into a trade that may not suit them. Instead we should be seeing investment in a rich and varied vocational training programmes which provide young people with the intellectual stimulation necessary for personal growth, and to increase their job options for the future - not limit them.

However worse still are plans for the health service - already vast junks have been privatised under Labour now Virgin Healthcare, part of Sir Richard Branson's sprawling business empire, has announced that it will be opening the first of six new health centres later this year. The company is encouraging GPs to join the new branded clinics, while retaining their existing contracts. Virgin would manage GP funds for staff and rental costs, and would offer additional, private, services to patients like dentistry and possibly complementary therapies.

Unison commented: "We are absolutely opposed to the move by Virgin Group into GP surgeries .... It is deeply alarming that a private company such as Virgin Group will be marketing its additional services to potentially vulnerable patients when they are in need of medical care as if they were visiting a gym .... [We should not] allow health centres to be run by gym managers."

The union has also made the point that some GPs have failed to meet their patients' needs in areas such as out-of-hours care because they have been acting as private companies and pursuing their own requirements rather than those of their patients.