Launch of the campaign for the NHS Reinstatement Bill 2015
A campaign is being launched on Saturday 04 October to reverse the failings of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and fully restore the NHS in England as an accountable public service. It is encouraging voters to ask candidates in the general election to support including a Bill that would do just that in the first Queen’s Speech after the election.
The launch is being carried out by Prof Allyson Pollock at a special meeting at the Liberal Democrat Annual Conference in Glasgow, and by Peter Roderick at the annual general meeting of the NHS Consultants’ Association in London.
Underpinning the campaign is a proposed NHS Reinstatement Bill 2015, co-authored by Pollock and Roderick, which would abolish competition and the purchaser-provider split, re-establish public bodies and public accountability, and restrict the role of commercial companies. It draws on some of the best examples of NHS administration over its history, retains some features of the reforms laid out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and would be implemented on a timescale determined by the secretary of state.
The Bill will both restore the NHS in England and reverse more than two decades of policies which have been intent upon privatising NHS services and funding, ultimately to its demise.
The proposed NHS Reinstatement Bill is a vital public health measure, and necessary legally to prevent the NHS in England becoming simply a memory, something that we had once upon a time. Pressure must be put on those standing in the general election to restore its founding vision.
Lord David Owen CH FRCP comments that “as the failures of the 2012 Act become daily evermore obvious, this Bill provides a template for very necessary reinstatement and reform. The secretary of state will decide the manner and the pace of implementation – except for section 1, which would restore his or her legal duty to provide the NHS with immediate effect.”
Comments on the Bill are sought from those who share the concern and commitment to reinstating fully the NHS as an accountable public service as smoothly as possible and with only a minimal and exceptional role for commercial companies. Responses to the Bill can be sent by email to: nhsrbconsultation@gmail.com
For other queries please contact Alex Agombar
Keep our NHS public Greater Manchester 