11.04.11
Government whip warns he will step down over NHS reforms
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s senior parliamentary advisor Norman Lamb warns he will resign if major changes are made too swiftly to the NHS reform Bill.
Lamb has voiced his concerns to the BBC after ministers announced a two month "listening exercise" on the Health and Social Care Bill.
"My real concern is the financial risk of doing it too quickly, because then you lose services, patient care suffers," he said. "The financial risk is that at the moment the plan is to transfer responsibility to GP consortiums, new organisations . There's no evidence about how these organisations will work but they're supposed to be up and running by April 2013."
"Let's stick to the principle, which is really good, but let's not destroy it by getting the process wrong," Lamb warned. "This package is not going to work unless we can get people on board and that includes addressing the concerns that I've raised."
His proposals have increased pressure on Health Secretary Andrew Lansley as he may feel allowing GPs to opt into the reforms would risk creating a two-tier health service.
However Lamb said he feels very strongly about the issue and warned that “if it's impossible for me to carry on in my position I will step down”.
Clegg agreed with his Lib Dem colleague on the reforms stating: “We have to get this right", maintaining his belief in the principles of giving GPs more control over commissioning services and ending bureaucracy.
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