06.10.14
Lib Dems seek an end to Competition and Markets Authority healthcare role
The Liberal Democrats would look to repeal any parts of the Health and Social Care Act making the NHS vulnerable to privatisation through the proposed EU/US trade deal.
The measure was approved as an amendment to a party policy paper on public services. Delegates voted in favour of the paper after a debate lasting more than two hours at the party conference in Glasgow yesterday.
The amendment commits the party to “repealing any parts of the NHS Health and Social Care Act 2012 dealing with competition where they are shown to make NHS services vulnerable to increased privatisation through international agreements on free markets in goods and services”.
In the debate, the MP John Pugh launched a stinging attack on the Act: “It’s a crazy, Mad Hatter’s, Alice in Wonderland type of market that offers none of the advantage of real markets and all of the downside, such as waste as the two sides ... employ an army of bean counters either side to make sure each is not short-changed and argue about tariffs and coding and a huge bureaucracy called Monitor is set up to police the pseudo market.
“Like leeches, cod liver oil or voodoo, the internal market is not a universal remedy and like leeches, cod liver oil or voodoo, there’s no good evidence to show it actually works.”
The policy paper also says the Lib Dems’ will end the role of the Competition and Markets Authority in Health and extend evening and weekend opening for GPs.
(Image: c. Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
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