21.03.11
MPs pass Health & Social Care Bill
The controversial Health & Social Care Bill has now cleared Parliament after more than a year of debate and significant opposition from health professionals, unions and peers.
The Bill – which was originally about giving GPs more control over the NHS budget, cutting the number of health bodies and introducing more competition to improve quality and efficiency – has been subject to over 1,000 amendments.
In a final vote last night by MPs on whether to delay the Bill until the risk register had been published, the motion was rejected, with a Government majority of 88. No Liberal Democrats voted with Labour against the Bill.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Publication of the risk register would prejudice the frankness and integrity of the decision-making processes of government and the government is opposed to their publication.”
The Information Commissioner and a tribunal have ruled that the Department of Health should publish the transition risk register on the Bill; but the Government has stated that it needs to see the reasoning behind this decision first.
NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar acknowledged that there would be confusion and complexity within the new system, but added: “We need to heal the rifts that have opened as many of our clinical staff have debated the merits of the Bill. We need to completely redesign NHS services against a backdrop of unprecedented financial pressure, bringing the public and staff with us. We have to do all this with significantly reduced management capacity.”
Dr Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, a member of NHE’s editorial board and a senior member of the Clinical Commissioning Coalition, said: “With each reform, there have been forces of inertia, vested interests and hard line opponents undermining and stalling developments, willing new systems to fail. We are not going to let that happen – not this time! This is our time, our one chance, to seriously make the difference.
“From now on, commissioning, led by frontline clinicians and patients, will be the order of the day, and local clinical leadership will no longer be ignored or neutralised.”
However, opposition to the Bill remains, particularly in unions and some of the royal colleges.
RCN chief executive Dr Peter Carter said that some important concessions had been achieved but there are still concerns that the Bill will cause a “massive upheaval” and lead to “significant regret”.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “We will continue to campaign hard to try and mitigate the worst excesses of this Bill. Patients will have a two-tier health service and where they live will determine the healthcare they receive.”
And shadow health secretary Andy Burnham stated: “We will repeal this Bill at the first opportunity and restore the N in NHS.”
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