So, the Health and Social Care Bill rumbles on.
MPs backed the latest draft of the NHS reforms by 316 votes to 251. A government majority of 65 sees it move on to the House of Lords.
Game resistance by the NHS Consultants Association and the Royal College of GPs could yet see more amendments made there, but it’s now unlikely to be withdrawn or substantially changed.
While Dr Clare Gerada, the president of the RCGP, warns that GPs could fall foul of the GMC should they become complicit in commissioning decisions which ‘conflict’ with their duty to patient care, the rest of the royal colleges want the debate to move on.
If the government can finally reassure them that the Bill is about quality and not privatisation, it will be a done deal.
The Royal College of Surgeons already wants everyone to focus on long-term planning - how is clinician-led commissioning going to promote innovation and slash bureaucracy?
The Royal College of Physicians is at pains to point out that the plans for medical education and training have yet to be published. It says proposals will require secondary legislation, which must protect deaneries’ crucial functions, including quality assurance.
Everyone wants more detail on clinically-led commissioning. Mandatory involvement of secondary care doctors has been welcomed, but the RCS want to know more about clinical senates that will advise the process. The RCP is questioning why the consultants involved will have to be from outside the local area, saying it’s impractical and would prevent valuable local knowledge from contributing to commissioning decision making.
The BMA is “bitterly disappointed” about the Bill’s progress, and are already pointing to ‘their’ successes i.e. the government’s back down on making Monitor’s primary role the promotion of competition. It knows that with not one of the Opposition’s amendments being adopted in the Commons the political will for further amendments is dissipating.
The profession just hasn’t been galvanised into action by the Health Bill threat. While the anti-campaign really believes it represents the end of the NHS, there’s a fair degree of apathy among secondary care doctors.
This is borne out by Hospital Dr’s readership. Our traffic is often modest on NHS reform stories, although I guess that wouldn’t be the same for a primary care website.
Start talking about the pension proposals and it’s a different matter - and the profession’s representatives know it.
Tags: Health policy
