new technology gadget: Review to recommend NHS changes

Monday, June 13, 2011

Review to recommend NHS changes

The government has indicated it is willing to make changes to its overhaul of the NHS

An independent review of the planned NHS shake-up in England is expected to recommend significant changes.

The NHS Future Forum, which has carried out a two-month consultation, will make proposals on controversial issues such as competition and the speed of change.

The publication is expected to be followed by a detailed response from the government on Tuesday.

Labour said claims the bill would be substantially changed were "heavy with Lib Dem spin".

However, ministers hope that by acting quickly they will be able to get their NHS reform programme back on track in weeks.

In April the government took the unprecedented move of halting the parliamentary progress of the Health and Social Care Bill underpinning the changes amid mounting criticism from academics, health unions and MPs.

Ministers had originally wanted to hand GPs control of much of the NHS budget, while opening up the health service to greater competition.

But Prime Minister David Cameron has already indicated he is willing to make concessions by allowing other health professionals a say in the spending of funds, while promising competition will be balanced against encouraging co-operation among NHS trusts, charities and private firms.

The full details of how the government aims to proceed will now be set out over the next two days.

“The government must now give the NHS some clarity and enable it to focus on the major problems it faces”

Mike Farrar NHS Confederation

The NHS Future Forum, led by former Royal College of GPs chief Professor Steve Field, has carried out more than 200 listening events with doctors, nurses and patients.

Its report - to be unveiled on Monday afternoon - is expected to largely chime with what Mr Cameron said last week.

However, the details of how the changes will work are being eagerly anticipated to see if the government can garner more support.

Concerns about the plans, which some had claimed could lead to the privatisation of the health service, had opened up divisions within the coalition.

There have also been fears raised about the risks of overhauling a system already under huge financial pressure.

Influential health groups such as the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of GPs and think tank the King's Fund have been vocal about their fears.

On Monday Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is expected to claim the Lib Dems have got their way in coalition battles over the bill.

At a meeting of his parliamentary party, the Lib Dem leader will present a scorecard of changes to the Health and Social Care Bill demanded by his party's spring conference in March.

Eleven of the 13 demands - including improving democratic accountability and preventing private firms "cherry picking" profitable services - have been secured, he will say, while alternative solutions have been found to meet the remaining two concerns.

“I think the test will be not whether the Lib Dems back Cameron but whether his own Tory backbenchers back Cameron on the bill in the future”

Jon Healey Shadow health secretary

The key demands included allowing hospital doctors and nurses to take control of commissioning services as well as GPs, and scrapping the 2013 deadline for consortia to start work.

Mr Clegg's chief political adviser, Norman Lamb, who had threatened to quit if he was not happy with the changes to the bill, said on Sunday: "I am satisfied. I think the concerns raised have been met. It's been a very constructive process."

But he denied the Lib Dems were in danger of making too much of the policy concessions they had achieved. "This is not a case of triumphalism. This is a case of improving the policy," he told BBC One's Politics Show.

The BBC understands that ministers are hopeful the NHS Future Forum report and the government response will allow them to press ahead almost immediately with the programme.

Officials are working on the basis that amendments could be made to the bill within weeks, allowing the government to kick-start the parliamentary process before the summer.

Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health managers, said: "The government must now give the NHS some clarity and enable it to focus on the major problems it faces such as financial pressure and the variability of care.

"It is essential that those responsible for taking key decisions are able to do so with confidence and certainty."

Jennifer Dixon, of the Nuffield Trust health think tank, agreed.

"The fundamentals of their plan remain but there will be more cautiousness in implementation, a slower pace. That is absolutely healthy for the NHS when we have the other big task at hand - to make savings," she said.

Labour has indicated it will be voting against the bill, whatever the changes are.

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Healey told the Politics Show that claims the bill would be substantially changed were "heavy with Lib Dem spin".

"My fear is that we'll hear the prime minister claim these are substantial and significant changes, but the long-term ideological plan to turn the NHS into a market, to open up all parts of the NHS to private companies, will remain.

"And I think the test will be not whether the Lib Dems back Cameron but whether his own Tory backbenchers back Cameron on the bill in the future."

This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.