18.04.13
Charities warn against competition regulations
A coalition of charities has accused health secretary Jeremy Hunt of privatising the NHS, ahead of next week’s Lords debate on the controversial section 75 regulations covering competition in the health service.
The regulations were redrafted following protests from Labour, health campaigners and clinicians, who raised concerns that commissioners would be forced to allow private companies to bid for every service.
The charities, including Marie Curie Cancer Care, Sue Ryder and Help for Hospices, warn that the re-wording has not gone far enough, and the regulations are essentially the same.
In a briefing note seen by the Financial Times, the charities said: “If the voluntary sector is forced out of the market then this will have a negative impact on patients and families and also the communities in which they live.”
Lord Hunt, the Labour peer who is leading the Lords challenge against the rules next week, said: “This opens up the NHS to wholesale privatisation. At its heart, this is what the Government always intended with its legislation last year.”
Health minister Norman Lamb said: “The wording used in these regulations is exactly the same as that used by Labour in March 2010, yet Labour members will not admit that.”
(House of Lords image: Parliamentary copyright)
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