NHS

[maggiebee]

Signed a petition and just got this from my MP.

Dear Maggie,

Thank you for taking the time to email me about the Health and Social Care Bill.

I agree with you that this Bill is fundamentally flawed, and the government should remove it from Parliament immediately.

I believe that we need to see a future for the NHS that maintains the principle of universal care, wherever you are in the country, and that it remains free at the point of delivery. Allowing privately insured patients to jump the queue, to make worse the post-code lottery nature of some services, and the many other ill-considered reforms is unacceptable.

Much of the Bill pertains only to the NHS in England and Wales, but it cannot be doubted that such dramatic, and damaging, changes to the NHS in England and Wales will have an impact on the service in Scotland.

I will be voting today to see the risk register published and I will support my Labour colleagues in both houses to see this Bill dropped.

If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jim McGovern MP
Dundee West

[tinkerbell23]

Sorry for my ignorance maggie not been with it recently could you show me a link to this bill or an article? I have no clue whats going on xxx (please)

[maggiebee]

"Summary of the Bill"

The Bill proposes to create an independent NHS Board, promote patient choice, and to reduce NHS administration costs.

Key areas

-establishes an independent NHS Board to allocate resources and provide commissioning guidance
-increases GPs’ powers to commission services on behalf of their patients
strengthens the role of the Care Quality Commission
-develops Monitor, the body that currently regulates NHS foundation trusts, into an economic regulator to oversee aspects of access and competition in the NHS
-cuts the number of health bodies to help meet the Government's commitment to cut NHS administration costs by a third, including abolishing Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities."

That all sounds good but of course the devil will be in the detail. The main issue of concern I think is "increases GPs’ powers to commission services on behalf of their patients" which some take to mean privatisation since it means they can choose the provider.

A link was given and there was a debate about whether ABers should mount a petition or not. Will try to find the link

[Sqad]

What a surprising opinion from a Labour MP.