Remove Connect Health from Kent and Medway's NHS board

The chair of Kent and Medway NHS has just appointed Connect Health to the board that oversees healthcare in that area. Connect Health is a private healthcare company with a deplorable 1 out of 5 stars rating on the NHS's own website.

The company clearly cares more about profits than they care about people. Private healthcare companies should not make decisions in our NHS.

The great news is that you can do something about it. Can you take just 2 minutes to send our letter to the chair of the board?

Chair, Kent and Medway ICB

Executive Director of Corporate Governance, Kent and Medway NHS

Kent and Medway ICS

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Subject

I live in the Kent and Medway Integrated Care System (ICS) area and it has just been brought to my attention that Elizabeth Butler, who sits on your recently formed ICS board, is a Non-Executive Director at private healthcare company, Connect Health.
As you know, Connect Health is a national company that provides a wide range of NHS services, from mental health and physiotherapy to orthopedics and occupational health services to around 350,000 patients across England.
Despite making profits of £18.7 million last year, Connect Health received a deeply worrying 1.4 stars out of 5 on Google and an even worse average of 1.1 stars out of 5 from 44 reviews on the NHS’s own website. Written reviews from their patients on both sites expose the poor state of the services they provide. 
A director at any private profit-making company, let alone a company with this performance should not be in a position to be responsible for our health and wellbeing in Kent and Medway, therefore I am asking you to do the right thing by removing Elizabeth Butler from your board. 
Also, more broadly, the director of a private healthcare company that has a significant financial interest in the decisions made by the ICB not just in terms of the commissioning of individual services but also in the shape of the healthcare landscape in the region, simply should not have a seat on the board.
Save Our NHS Kent, a local group of concerned Kent residents, and We Own It, a national organisation that campaigns for public services for people over profit, plan to run a significant national and regional campaign over this issue. I will give them my full support in that important work.
I look forward to hearing from you about a swift and confidence-restoring resolution to this deeply concerning matter. 
Thank you very much for your time.
Kind regards
PS, please find below a selection of the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=connect+health&oq=connect+health&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j46i175i199i512j0i512j46i175i199i512j0i512j69i60j69i61j69i60.6377j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x4876415e93542709:0xe583a35a20bda3d9,1,,,">Google reviews</a> received by Connect Health from some of their patients in just the last month. These are all 1 star reviews. We Own It and Save Our NHS Kent will be reaching out to these and more reviewers in the hopes of getting them to speak to the press about their experiences and about their thoughts on a member of this company’s board being responsible for making decisions on healthcare in Kent and Medway.
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Matthew Lomax
Honestly the worst service I have ever received. I hurt my back last year November (I'm still in immense pain but have been told I shouldn't worry). I have been three times and was asked the same questions and told the same thing on all occasions to the point I thought a script was being read. Finally I was referred to have an MRI scan and received a letter in the post and told there is something wrong but i shouldn't concern myself although my pain is so immense and it is hard to walk.
The worst part of the service if you can call it receiving service is that I was called to say that my results were in from the MRI and that I will receive a call within two weeks to come through. That was 4 months ago. I was also told that if I want proper care I should consult a private clinician (what is the point of your service if you dont provide proper care).
What service does connect health actually provide because I am genuinely wanting to know. 
Merlin G
Many of the reviews below mirror my own experience of Connect.  A succession of pointless physio appointments for a knee injury which is so obviously not going to be cured by exercises. I have now been passed on to the next member of the team, who of course, is still not a doctor or consultant. Meanwhile the months roll by with no actual appropriate treatment in sight.
On paper this arrangement must have appeared attractive. All the MSK work is offloaded to a third party promising efficiency and cost effectiveness and the surgeries no longer have to deal with sprains etc. In reality for the patient it is a disaster. The service is impersonal in the extreme. A call centre manned by non-medical staff. Appointments months apart with the most basic tick box physio attention. No identifiable person who takes charge of or oversees a patient's progress. All cases presumed to be resolvable by exercises.
In my own case, after three appointments, one by phone and two in person, I have never been physically examined by a physio. The first in person was largely taken up by me repeating facts I had already stated in the pre-appointment questionnaire. I was given exercises which were impractical, eg taking up cycling at my age! Obtaining a huge exercise ball. Swimming when I had declared a shoulder issue. The app I was then sent did not open because my details were not valid. The last appointment lasted less than 3 minutes when I was told I would be sent on to the next person in the team so another wait of six weeks. Disappointing after a 25 mile round trip.
In frustration I had been to a private physio and the difference was night and day. A physical examination an immediate probable diagnosis of a meniscus tear which needed an MRI and surgery. I was also strapped up to relieve the pain.
So Connect makes patients go through months and months of make believe waiting and sub standard physio appointments in order to push the costs of the actual treatment needed far into the future.
Ok so MSK problems are not life threatening but they are painful, debilitating and life changing,  and many people like me, have paid decades of tax and national insurance in the expectation of a decent provision of health care.
No company in the private sector could operate successfully with these levels of feedback and dissatisfaction. Where is the accountability amongst the senior NHS managers who have commissioned this?
Keris McCormick
The receptionists were the only useful people in the building, the guy that done my assessment was really rude and judgemental, he dismissed my pain and told me there was nothing wrong and I have since had an MRI scan and have to see a surgeon. I will never be going back to this place again it was the worst place I have been to regarding my issue! Would give 0 stars if I could but unfortunately I can’t.
Becky Cox
Would leave 0 stars. Appalled by service. My dad is in  a lot of pain and noone seems to be acting. We had to push for a face to face after a telephone consultation which was no help. Exercises were provided which made him worse. Had to wait ages for an appt to now have it cancelled at short notice. Now being told to wait till August. The service is appalling. Every review I read is shocking. Please can someone help me and see my dad sooner.
Glynn Owen
After waiting 3 weeks for a phone consultation, I was told, afterwards, I would be emailed information to help my problem. I never got that email, but did get wrongly called again by connect asking for different patients, this happened twice. I called their number to request the information, they couldn't find my details.
Bonnie Elstar
In the old days when you had physio, they may manipulate your body or do some tissue work, he’ll I even got acupuncture at St Albans Hospital, now it’s a phone call and some recommended exercises and then discharge! This recently has happened with my 11yo hyper mobile daughter, she won’t even know if she’s doing the exercises correctly! The NHS are paying for this too!  Such a waste of money, think I will stick to YouTube and save the NHS some cash!  Daylight robbery to the NHS and our health!
Kush Patel
So far they have been pretty poor. I was told i would be getting a scan and they would get back to me the week after after speaking to the MDT. A month on I chase it up and get more empty promises and still nothing in the way of an update.
Kathryn Russo
Definitely don't recommend anyone to use this service, from the phone call, questionnaire & appointment process is an absolute shame, the physio I met today was useless and rude & made me feel really uncomfortable, she asked me loads of questions about my pain in my right ankle, examined it a bit & then fobbed me off with a few exercises to do & told me to go back in 4weeks, I had explained in full how long this had been going on, for about 5months,and that I had tried everything, but  the nerve pain was much worse, I was told I couldn't have a scan or ultrasound there's a process they have to go through first, so I came away today really upset in pain & no better off than when I went in, so not in a good place right now

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