View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
11 March 2015

A new Bill plots the way back for the NHS – but it’s not Labour who are behind it

Caroline Lucas and Andrew George, a Liberal Democrat rebel, are working together on a bill that could be a roadmap for the NHS.

By Benedict Cooper

Later today, in the dusk of this parliament, a new Bill will get its first and perhaps only reading in the Commons. It’s unlikely to set pulses racing in any of the main party machines, but in certain circles the NHS Bill represents the last ditch to save a dying public service.

It is the result of three years of patient work led by two leading public health experts, Professor Allyson Pollock and Peter Roderick of the Centre for Primary Care and Public Health at Queen Mary, University of London.

In the bill, they say, lies a trail of breadcrumbs to take us back to a different era. A time before the Health and Social Care Act; before the NHS was such fertile ground for profiteers. A time when money allocated for patient care wasn’t routinely squandered on futile bidding wars, failed private experiments, a contrived internal market and debilitating PFI repayments.

“We’ve been working on this ever since the Health and Social Care Act came in,” says Allyson Pollock, speaking to me earlier this week. “We knew this time would come. What we’ve got in the Health and Social Care Act is a destructive reorganisation which has started the breakup of the NHS.

“If we don’t bring in legislation then privatisation and the breakup of the service will continue; by 2020 the NHS will be unrecognisable”.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Andy Burnham has said in no uncertain terms that a Labour government would repeal the Health and Social Care Act, and end the “Tory market experiment in the NHS”. Strong words, and a welcome departure from the New Labour days when much of the damage was done.

But this isn’t a Labour Bill. The political will has come from the Green Party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, and a Liberal Democrat, Andrew George. It’s backed by rebels from across the benches, PPCs, medical professionals and campaign groups throughout England.

Why do this now, with such a solemn pledge from Labour firmly and repeatedly on record? “They have said they would repeal the act”, says Pollock, “but they haven’t said what they would replace it with and how they would go about reinstating the principles of the NHS”.

If Labour wins enough power to repeal the Health and Social Care Act, and stays true to its word, it will be a tremendous victory. But with contracts in place and business plans cooked up, there will be plenty of clearing up to do even from the two years since the Act came into effect. Arguably, too much than simply canning it can possibly manage.

“We’ve already come too far down this road,” says Caroline Lucas, speaking to me yesterday. “We want to roll back 25 years, look at the whole programme of marketisation that New Labour brought in right up until what’s happening now”.

In its own words, the Bill proposes to “fully restore the NHS as an accountable public service by reversing 25 years of marketisation in the NHS, by abolishing the purchaser-provider split, ending contracting and re-establishing public bodies and public services accountable to local communities”.

How will this be done? With what now seem like very radical ideas behind them, some of the key objectives are:

  • To “reinstate the government’s duty to provide the key NHS services throughout England, including hospitals, medical and nursing services, primary care, mental health and community services”;
  • “abolish the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England) and re-establish it as a Special Health Authority with regional committees”;
  • “abolish Monitor and repeal the competition and core marketisation provisions of the 2012 Act”;
  • “prohibit ratification of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and other international treaties without the approval of Parliament and the devolved legislatures if they would cover the NHS”;
  • centralise NHS debts under the Private Finance Initiative in the Treasury, and require the Treasury to report to Parliament on reducing them;

Given the timing, it’s less clear what can be achieved in the coming weeks – indeed it has attracted its critics for this reason. But as Lucas tells me: “This is about setting an agenda for the election, and for the next parliament. I don’t think it should be about just choosing between the Efford Bill and the status quo. We need something more robust”.

If Labour is serious about ending the Tory market experiment, the party should take note of today’s proceedings. In an emerging corporate climate, the NHS Bill is a refreshing reiteration of the founding principles of a health service being systematically altered, and a blueprint for restoring them, laid down in black-and-white, waiting for anyone with the will to pick them up.

 

Content from our partners
Development finance reform: the key to climate action
Individually rare, collectively common – how do we transform the lives of people with rare diseases?
Future proofing the NHS

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU