NHS reforms which could see an increase in the number of health services run by charities could be scrapped after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg threatened to block the plans unless "substantial, significant changes to the legislation" are made.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is to come under pressure at Commons questions later today regarding the Health and Social Welfare Bill which has received criticism from service providers including the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and a coalition of charities including Rethink Mental Illness, British Heart Foundation and Age UK.
In a letter to the Times newspaper in February, eight UK charities called for “crucial changes” to the Bill, raising concerns over the controls on commissioning reforms which would give GPs the responsibility for commissioning NHS services and allow charities and private organisations to bid for service provision in their local authorities.
Publishing the letter on the Rethink website, the charities coalition added further detail saying: “We are concerned about the lack of emphasis on input into local service design and commissioning by expert health and social care professionals and patient groups."
They also raised concerns about a lack of involvement of the public in commissioning and added: "Furthermore, where the commissioning of whole pathways of care for some conditions will fall under the remits of public health, the NHS Commissioning Board and GP consortia, this risks the fragmentation of service provision.”
The RCGP raised concerns including the possibility of charging patients for healthcare services currently provided for free by the NHS and the implications of competition, calling for a “substantial review” of part three of the Bill which outlines the competition plans.
Seven sector chief executives are members of the NHS Future Forum, the government-appointed panel that will scrutinise the planned changes.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show yesterday morning, Clegg said that a two-month pause to the reform which began in early April is “not a cosmetic exercise and that “there will be substantial changes to the legislation”.
"Let me just be very clear on this," he added. "As far as government legislation is concerned no bill is better than a bad one."
Eight charities penned a letter to the Times in February raising concerns over the reforms, they were:
Rethink, Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Asthma UK, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, the Stroke Association and National Voices.
