The London Borough of Hillingdon has warned that it is already poised totake over the management of four children's centres following proposalsby Hillingdon Primary Care Trust to hand over clinical services to a newprovider.
The trust is struggling to cut a long-term debt of 54m and apredicted deficit of 11m for the current financial year. If itsplans go ahead, including cutting the number of staff from 300 to 30, itwill become the first to hand over almost all its core functions to theprivate sector.
Conservative councillor David Simmonds, the cabinet member for educationand children's services at Hillingdon Council, said: "If the providerthe trust ends up choosing does not have expertise or experience ofworking with councils and puts its own costs over the bigger picture,joined-up services could be at risk."
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