27.01.12
Royal Colleges continuing reform discussion
The medical royal colleges will continue to engage with discussion on the NHS reforms, rather than adopt a stance of outright opposition.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) was preparing to release a statement saying that it could not support the health bill in its current form, but withdrew this after interventions by the Government, it is reported.
The consequences of such opposition could have caused great difficulty for Government. However, the Royal College of Surgeons would not agree to call for the Bill to be withdrawn.
The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the AoMRC held a meeting to discuss the Bill. They have serious concerns about the proposals, especially concerning accountability, competition and training.
The BMA, the RCN and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have already moved to a position of outright opposition to the Bill and called for it to be withdrawn. The Royal College of GPs has also stated its opposition to the Bill.
The original prepared statement read, according to reports: “The medical royal colleges and faculties of the academy continue to have significant concerns over a number of aspects of the health bill and are disappointed that more progress has not been made in directly addressing the issues we have raised.
“The academy and medical royal colleges are not able to support the bill as it currently stands. Unless the proposals are modified the academy believes the bill may widen rather than lessen health inequalities and that unnecessary competition will undermine the provision of high quality integrated care to patients.”
However, the new joint statement that was released, said: “A number of Medical Royal Colleges, the BMA, the RCN and organisations representing other clinical professionals met today to discuss their approaches to the Health and Social Care Bill. There was a useful exchange of information and an agreement to continue the dialogue.”
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