04.04.13
Competition regulations will lead to ‘turmoil’ – Lord Owen
Health professionals have warned changes to the section 75 regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 do not go far enough to protect the NHS from default privatisation.
openDemocracy’s OurNHS campaign has stated that the regulations will require all NHS services to be put out to competition, unless commissioners can prove there is only one provider capable of delivering that service. Following significant criticism, the Government amended the wording of the regulations to clarify it would be commissioners’ choice when to use competition.
The DH said: “There is no requirement to put all contracts out to competitive tender. This means that commissioners are able to offer contracts to a single provider where only that provider is capable of providing the services. Competition should not trump integration – commissioners are free to commission an integrated service where it is in the interest of patients.”
But OurNHS called for peers to vote against the regulations in the House of Lords debate scheduled for April 24. Lord Owen said: “The Department appears to be making two contradictory arguments – that these regulations change little, and yet that they are urgently needed for the new Clinical Commissioning Groups to do their job of making decisions about local health services. The House of Lords committee wondered if there is ‘no difference in substance’ to the existing procurement regime guidance, why these regulations are needed at all.
“These regulations in their present form will lead only to turmoil and fragmentation, and should now be withdrawn or annulled.”
Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, added: “The new reforms, of which these regulations are a key part, remove the legal framework for a universal, publically provided, publically managed, publically planned, democratically accountable health service.”
Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “These regulations are a recipe for disaster and a blatant attempt to fast-track privatisation in the NHS. People should not be taken in by the government’s warm words on co-operation and integration.”
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