Rochdale MP, Tony Lloyd, is demanding Government Ministers scrap plans to pass a new law to reorganise the NHS in England. 

Tony said, “People want the Government to fix waiting lists and get a face-to-face appointment with their GP.

“What they don’t want is to allow private companies to sit on the boards that oversee the new Integrated Care Systems and make decisions about how the budget is spent, which is what this law will allow.

“The Health Secretary needs to be focusing on things that matter – concentrating on Covid, sorting out social care, bringing down waiting lists and giving the NHS workforce the pay rise they deserve instead of rushing into a flawed, top-down reorganisation.”

The Health and Care Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Commons on 14 July, is expected to enter the next stage of its passage on 9 November. The Bill will divide the NHS in England into 42 areas, called Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), each with its own budget and a board to oversee the delivery of health services for the area.^[1]

A recent poll carried out by Survation shows that 70% of the public, including 70% of Conservative voters and 82% of Labour voters, say they are worried that the Bill would open the NHS to contracts being given out to private companies without scrutiny. 60% of those polled say they want the Bill to be amended to make NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts the default providers of all NHS services.

Campaigners and trade unionists say the Bill will allow private companies to sit on the boards that oversee the new ICSs and make decisions about how the budget is spent. They also claim that by repealing Section 75 of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, which required that all contracts be put through a competitive tendering process, the Bill will open the NHS to more crony contracts. ^{[2] [3]}

—Ends—

Note to Editors:

[1] https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-02/0140/210140.pdf
[2] https://weownit.org.uk/say-no-virgin-care-making-decisions-our-nhshttps://weownit.org.uk/say-no-virgin-care-making-decisions-our-nhs
[3] https://lowdownnhs.info/health-and-care-bill/no-private-firms-to-sit-on-integrated-care-boards-2/https://lowdownnhs.info/health-and-care-bill/no-private-firms-to-sit-on-integrated-care-boards-2/