The deadline for writing to the clerk mentioned below is *Monday 25th February* so please write tomorrow or over the weekend if you can.
On 13th February 2013 the Government published the regulations (SI257) under Section 75 of the NHS and Health Care Act 20121 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/257/contents/made). Assurances were given by ministers during the passage of the Bill through Parliament that it did not mean the privatisation of the NHS, that local people would have the final say in who provided their NHS. The regulations just published break these promises by creating requirements for virtually all commissioning done by the National Commissioning Board (NCB) and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to b carried out through competitive markets, which will have the effect of forcing through privatisation regardless of the will of local people. They contain legal powers for Monitor to enforce the privatisation spontaneously or at the request of private companies that lost bids. They would also make it virtually impossible to fulfil some of the key thrust of the Francis report recommendations.
This Statutory Instrument (SI) will be going to the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee on 5th March; this Committee will then report to the House. If people contact the Clerk of the Committee to emphasise its importance it will encourage them to look seriously at the Secondary Legislation and then hopefully report it to the House as meriting special attention. This in turn helps the tone of the debate on
the SI. The Clerk can be contacted at seclegscrutiny@parliament.uk <mailto:seclegscrutiny@parliament.uk>
LINK HERE
Here is an article by Caroline Molloy:
http://www.sochealth.co.uk/2013/02/23/new-threat-to-the-nhs-5-ways-you-can-help/
According to the HSJ, Lawyers working in the NHS told HSJ the regulations could have wide-reaching implications on the mix of providers of NHS-funded services. The rules ban “any restrictions on competition that are not necessary”. They say contracts can only be awarded without tender for “technical reasons, or reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights” or for “reasons of extreme urgency”.”
