NHS reforms: Cameron accepts ‘substantive’ changes to health bill

PM endorses main recommendations of independent review into proposals to reform NHS but denies changes amount to U-turn Get all the latest reaction on the NHS reforms live blog David Cameron admitted that he had made mistakes on the NHS as he agreed to make “substantive” changes to the health and social care bill after endorsing the main recommendations of an independent panel of experts. Speaking at Guy’s Hospital in London alongside the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, the prime minister attempted to show his commitment to the NHS by paying tribute to staff at the nearly Evelina Children’s Hospital who cared for his late son, Ivan. Cameron, who paused the health and social care bill in April amid Liberal Democrat concerns and Tory fears that it was jeopardising his work in neutralising the NHS as an issue, reeled off a series of changes. Speaking in front of NHS staff on the top floor of the hospital, Cameron said: • The bill will be amended to make clear that the primary duty of Monitor, the health service regulator, is not to promote competition. It will only do that if it helps patients. Cameron said: “You wanted us to make clear that competition isn’t there for its own sake, but to make life better for patients – done.” • The membership of the new GP-led consortiums, designed to take control of around 65% of the NHS budget, will be opened up. “You wanted us to get specialists, not just GPs, on commissioning groups – done,” Cameron said. “You wanted us to join up the different parts of the NHS, to put integration right at the heart of our reforms – done. “We have listened, we have learned, and we are improving our plans for the NHS. We come here today with a substantive package of changes.” Among other changes: • Clegg announced that the proposal to allow “any qualified provider” to deliver NHS services will be introduced at a slower pace. • The Department of Health confirmed that one of the key Lib Dem demands, that Lansley’s original 2013 deadline should be relaxed, had been met. The department said: “We will allow clinical commissioning groups to take charge of commissioning when they are ready and able.” The department also confirmed that the “relevant parts” of the health and social care bill will be sent back for consideration at the Commons committee stage. The main challenge facing Cameron now will be to win over Tory backbenchers who are angry at the treatment of Lansley. They believe the health secretary has been the subject of unfair briefings after he implemented a white paper on health agreed by the prime minister and his deputy last year. Tory backbenchers are particularly alarmed by the relaxing of the 2013 deadline and the watering down of Monitor’s role in promoting competition. But backbenchers are being won over by Lansley, who told them at a private meeting last week that the main principles of his reforms remain in place. These are giving greater commissioning powers to GPs and allowing greater competition in the NHS. Cameron denied that the changes amounted to a U-turn or to doing nothing. He said: “Now there were those who said this was a humiliating U-turn, that we were backtracking and ditching all our plans. “And there were those who said the opposite – that actually we weren’t going to change anything, that this was all a big PR stunt. “Today, we show that both are wrong. The fundamentals of our plans – more control to patients, more power to doctors and nurses, less bureaucracy in the NHS – are as strong today as they’ve ever been. “But the shape of our plans, the detail of how we’re going to make all this work, that really has changed, as a direct result of this consultation.” The prime minister insisted it was essential to reform the NHS as it copes with an ageing population and a tight fiscal climate. “Fail to reform now and we could see a bigger and bigger black hole opening up in the budget,” he said. “Fail to confront this and the founding principle of the NHS – healthcare available to everyone who needs it, free at the point of use – would be in danger. I refuse to let that happen. “Because of what we’re doing today, the NHS will continue to thrive tomorrow, it will continue to be free at the point of use, based on need and not ability to pay, and our children and grandchildren will be able to rely on it, just as we have done.” Clegg said: “Patients, doctors and nurses have spoken. We have listened. Now we are improving our plans for the NHS. Yes to patient choice. No to privatisation. Yes to giving nurses, hospital doctors and family doctors more say in your care. No to the free market dogma that can fragment the NHS. The right reforms at the right pace. Evolution, not revolution.” Lansley said: “The independent NHS Future Forum has made a number of recommendations, and we are accepting them. This has been a genuine exercise and it is clear from our response today that substantial changes have been made in the interests of patients.” Diane Abbott, the shadow health minister, said: “This is a short-term political fix that is bound to unravel. “We still have a NHS plan which no one voted for, which some of the leading health experts in the country do not understand, and will still cost billions of pounds. It is incredible that David Cameron and Nick Clegg are trying to spin their NHS car crash as some kind of triumph.” NHS Health Health policy Public services policy David Cameron Nick Clegg Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 14, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.