24.04.13
Competition regulations put to the vote
Peers are set to vote on the controversial section 75 competition regulations today.
The coalition said the regulations, introduced in March by health minister Norman Lamb, would help “ensure that commissioners' decisions on buying clinical services are transparent and fair, and that they improve the quality and efficiency of health care services for patients”.
But critics say that even in their amended form, the regulations will leave the NHS open to ‘privatisation by default’, with commissioners forced to put services out to competition.
Labour wants the changes annulled. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “NHS privatisation is already proceeding at an alarming pace. If passed, these regulations will let the privatisation genie fully out of the bottle.”
NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar warned politicians to avoid “polarised positions” and to focus on improving care. He said: “Clearly the NHS should not introduce competition in circumstances where it is not in these best interests.
“Where competition is the most effective route to improving care, CCGs need to be able to use it at their own local discretion, rather than have it forced upon them for all services. Using competition in such an arbitrary fashion would potentially create a barrage of bureaucratic tendering and procurement procedures, which would inevitably be paid for at the tax payers expense. This is not in the interest of commissioners or any aspirant new providers.”
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(House of Lords image: Parliamentary copyright)