17.07.12
‘We will repeal the Act’ – Burnham
The Labour Party has given its clearest pledge yet that it will scrap the NHS reforms if it wins the next general election.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the Health & Social Care Act undermines the NHS and opens the door to further privatisation.
There would be no further top-down reorganisations, he added, as foundation trusts are failing to make the savings required of them due to the distractions of restructuring.
Speaking in an opposition day debate, Burnham said: “We will repeal the Bill [sic], it is a defective, sub-optimal piece of legislation that is saddling the NHS with a complicated mess. In those circumstances, it would be irresponsible to leave it in place.
“The gap between ministers’ complacent statements and people’s real experience of the NHS gets wider every week. They are in denial about the effects of their reorganisation in the real world, it is dangerous complacency and it can't be allowed to continue.
“It’s not about the organisations; it’s about the services they provide. The existing organisations can be asked to work differently, as I would ask them to work differently.
“I don’t want those NHS organisations in outright competition, hospital versus hospital. I want them working collaboratively. We will repeal the Bill but no, there won’t be a top down reorganisation of the kind we have seen inflicted on the NHS.”
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