20.01.12
RCN and RCM declare opposition to health reforms
The Royal Colleges of Nursing and Midwives have joined the BMA in outright opposition to the NHS reforms, after earlier attempts to engage in the process of getting the Bill amended.
RCN chief executive and general secretary Dr Peter Carter said: “We have worked hard on behalf of all our members to influence the decisions that have been taken as the bill has gone through parliament.
However, it is now clear that these ‘reforms’ are forging ahead on the ground without the concerns of nurses and other clinicians being heeded.
“The RCN has been on record as saying that withdrawing the Bill would create confusion and turmoil, however, on the ground, we believe that the turmoil of proceeding with these reforms is now greater than the turmoil of stopping them.”
The RCM have said the reforms amount to “creeping privatisation” and have been a massive distraction for the NHS.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has suggested that the medical profession has been ‘hijacked’ by the unions, and said that their anger at changes to pay and pensions has led to the hardening of the stance towards the reforms.
The BMA made its decision to come out against the Bill in late 2011, sparked by the proposal on commissioning support. It says its main concerns are the “over ambitious” reform timetable and the fact major changes have been taking place on the ground before the Bill has been passed; the reforms’ complexity and lack of coherence; the knock-on effects of the implementation and how different parts of the reforms will work together; and a mismatch between the rhetoric and the reality.
The Bill has now been winding its way through Parliament for more than a year, having got its first reading on January 19, 2011, before the ‘pause’. Its next step is the report stage in the House of Lords.
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