MPs to criticise NHS reforms
pharmafile | January 23, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Clegg, Dorrell, NHS reform, health bill
Reform of the NHS is risking its financial stability and the care of the elderly, according to MPs.
The concerns have been highlighted in a draft report from the Health Select Committee, which was published by The Observer.
The final version of the report is due later this week, and the paper said MPs are concerned that the restructuring of the NHS is hampering its effort to make £20 billion in savings by 2015.
The Committee, chaired by former Conservative health secretary Stephen Dorrell, also says that the government does not plan to do enough about care for the elderly.
The report makes particular reference to plans aimed at keeping elderly patients out of hospitals by offering community-based alternatives.
The Health and Social Care Bill is currently in the House of Lords and could be passed into law by April.
The Bill is seeking to remove the current managers of the NHS and replace them with family doctors, whilst also increasing the role of competition in the health service.
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg defended the radical reforms by saying the coalition should not be “sticking our heads in the sand”.
In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Clegg insisted there would be no privatisation of the health service ‘by the back door’, but added: “We don’t want people to think that we can freeze [the NHS] in time and it will all be okay.”
This is a depature from his stance last year, where the Lib Dem leader said the reforms should be delayed to allow for further scrutiny.
Criticism continues
The government’s reforms have been a magnet for controversy ever since the first draft of the Bill was published in 2010, and this is not the first time MPs have questioned the timing and scope of the Bill.
Speaking to Pharmafocus last year, Dorrell said it was a ‘distraction’ for the NHS to be reorganised at a time when it needs to find $5 billion in savings each year.
Criticism of the Bill remains unabated as health professionals groups, including the British Medical Association – and more recently the Royal College of Nurses – voice their opposition against the reforms.
This Thursday, all members of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges are due to meet to discuss the Bill.
This could be a further blow to the government as most of their ranks have joined in the opposition to the reforms, with the Royal College of GPs – representing those who will be at the heart of the changes – chief among them.
Adam Hill
Related Content
MPs concerned about care.data
MPs have expressed concerns about security in the delayed NHS care.data programme which will see …
MPs: NHS must be ‘re-imagined’
Increasing cost pressure on the NHS will lead to a breakdown in health and social …
CQC ‘needs urgent overhaul’, say MPs
England’s health and social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), must overhaul its governance …
