‘Paralysis’ in NHS if reforms passed
pharmafile | October 11, 2011 | News story | | Andrew Lansley, Health and Social Care Bill, Mike Farrar, NHS
A prominent NHS leader has warned the government’s reforms are unworkable in their current form.
NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar says the NHS risks being “paralysed by fuzzy structures and decision-making processes,” which would prevent it from dealing with financial pressures and improving quality of care.
The warning comes as the Health and Social Care Bill is being read by Peers in the House of Lords today.
Farrar says his organisation supported ‘some of the principles in the Bill,’ but added that at a practical level it has few enthusiasts.
He said: “[Peers] still need to sort out some of the fundamentals – the accountability of all the key players in the system must be crystal clear, not least of the Secretary of State.
“And we also need peers to get beneath the surface of the legislation and give us the practical tools we need to tackle the major problems we face,” he said.
He added that the health service would have “few powers to take charge of its destiny” adding: “It is still unclear that the NHS reforms do what has been said on the tin.”
Further warnings
Farrar was joined in his criticism of the Bill by 60 leading medical professionals and the new Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham.
The leading medical professionals, lead by Professor Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, have written to Peers expressing their concerns with the Bill.
They say that “both medical professionals and the British public – despite a protracted listening exercise by the government – still do not support existing plans for the NHS,” adding the NHS is too important and valuable to be “transformed forever in this unpopular, undemocratic way”.
Burnham, a former Labour health secretary, has offered Andrew Lansley his support for non-legislative reform of commissioning if he drops the Bill.
In a letter to Lansley he said: “The NHS is now in the danger zone. You have failed to build a consensus around your plans. It’s time to stop digging in. Listen and change course or you will damage patient care.”
Lansley is reported to be willing to make further concessions in the House of Lords in order to have the Bill passed, but the coalition government will resist attempts to scupper the reforms entirely.
Ben Adams
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