Why the House of Lords Hasn’t Fixed the Bill

Liberal Democrat Conference: Health Bill

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference has voted by 314-217 not to support calls on Lib Dem Peers to support the Health and Social Care Bill at its Third Reading. There will now be increased pressure on the Party leadership to end its attempts to push the Bill through Parliament.

The Party leadership has claimed that changes made to the Bill made after the joint CleggWilliams letter have transformed it into something workable and acceptable. This claim is false (see below). The Bill remains an ugly and damaging mess. The pernicious competition chapter has not been dropped. It will still remove the legal duty on the Secretary of State for Health to provide free and comprehensive healthcare for all. And it will still allow fewer services to be provided to fewer people, the introduction of charges for services currently free, and even the exclusion of groups of people from healthcare altogether.

Commenting on the result of the conference vote, Professor Wendy Savage of “Keep Our NHS Public” said:

“Everyone who care about the future of the NHS will be delighted that the Liberal Democrat conference has seized its last chance to stop the Health Bill in its tracks.

“The conference clearly realised that claims that changes to the Bill promoted by Mr Clegg and Baroness Williams have transformed it are simply false. Now Mr Clegg must listen to his own Party, to health professionals and to public opinion, and put this awful Bill out of its misery.

“If Mr Clegg decides to ignore his own Party he will pay a very heavy price. The idea that public opposition to this Bill will fade once it becomes law is deluded. If he allows it to pass, this Bill will haunt him and his Party until the next Election and beyond, and the campaign to defend the NHS will only grow in strength.”

CONTACT:

Professor Wendy Savage07939 084544
Professor Allyson Pollock07976 978304
Ian Willmore (media) 07887 641344

Why the House of Lords Hasn’t Fixed the Bill

A detailed analysis by Professor Allyson Pollock, Professor of Public Health Research and Policy at Queen Mary’s London, David Price, Senior Research Fellow at QMH, and public interest lawyer Peter Roderick, shows that the key problems with the Bill still remain. A full copy of the analysis can be read at http://bit.ly/zKL7de

The most damaging features remaining in the Bill are:

• The legal duty of the Secretary of State to provide a National Health Service is abolished, replaced by a political declaration and a duty on list-based clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)
• The competition chapter has not been dropped. Liberal democrat peers have agreed to delete only three of the eleven clauses of that chapter. They also voted against their own amendment aimed at preventing competition rules from obstructing the NHS, and voted against an amendment to require the regulator Monitor to treat competition and collaboration equally
• Cherry picking by providers is not outlawed. Clause 103 of the Bill requires all providers to decide whether and how to cherry-pick, in that they must set and apply eligibility and selection criteria
• The Bill legalises fewer services for fewer people, allows the introduction of charges for services currently free, and could be used to exclude people from healthcare altogether. Local authorities would have only discretionary powers to commission 20 categories of services. Clinical CCGs would have the power to decide if a range of provision is appropriate as part of the health service, including services for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, young children, the prevention of illness, the care of persons suffering from illness, and the after-care of persons who have suffered from illness. Charges on individuals could be imposed for example on the public health services that in future will be provided through the local authority.