06.03.11
NHS bill concessions promised
The Government is to introduce further concessions to the health bill in response to Liberal Democrat concerns.
It is promising further safeguards over the use of the private sector and the role of the NHS regulator, Monitor.
The bill aims to give GPs control of much of the NHS budget and would open up the health service to greater competition from the private and voluntary sector.
Liberal Democrat activists are attempting to hold a vote on axing the bill at the party’s spring conference later this week.
Conservative health minister Earl Howe said: “The amendments we have brought forward today will provide ongoing reassurance that the NHS will always operate in the interests of patients.
“They clarify Monitor’s transitional intervention powers over foundation trusts and introduce further safeguards about foundation trusts’ ability to earn non-NHS income.
“The principles of our modernisation plans – doctors and nurses making decisions, patients being at the heart of the health system, and less bureaucracy – have always been at the core of the bill.
“These principles are widely accepted according to the independent NHS Future Forum. We will continue to work with peers to provide the reassurance and clarity necessary as the Health Bill progresses through Parliament.”
But Labour’s shadow health secretary Any Burnham said that the promised amendments “leave the coalition’s plans to turn the NHS into a free market firmly in place and does not address the profound concerns of health professionals”.
The bill returns to the House of Lords today.
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