The politics of vagueness haunts NHS ‘privatisation’ bill, says
Unite
23 March 2011
The politics of vagueness haunts the legislation which will
herald the biggest ever shake-up of the NHS, Unite, the largest
union in the country, said today (Wednesday 23 March).
Unite, which has 100,000 members in the health service, is
concerned that health secretary Andrew Lansley has not got a grip
on the details of the legislation, which will open up the NHS to
the widespread privatisation of services.
Unite cites two examples of this lack of grip – Andrew Lansley’s
admission to the Commons health select committee that he was ‘still
thinking through’ what would happen if one of the new GP consortia
went broke; and a further admission that the role of Monitor - the
regulatory body which will oversee fair play in the new ‘market’ -
had not been finalised.
Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said: ”At a time when the
public are about to see their beloved NHS being privatised, it is
alarming that the health secretary is being vague in the extreme
about important aspects of this legislation – the biggest change to
the NHS since its formation in 1948.
”Andrew Lansley appears to take no notice of the legitimate
concerns of the British Medical Association and other professional
bodies, as well as his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats
who opposed the reorganisation of the NHS at their recent spring
conference.
”The fact that the respected chair of the health select
committee, Stephen Dorrell, had to intervene to seek clarity on
competition issues further calls into question the competency of
the health secretary and the trust, or lack of it, that he
generates.
”The politics of vagueness haunts the passage of the Health and
Social Care bill through parliament – and MPs and peers need to
really scrutinise the flaws in this legislation in the coming weeks
and demand the information they need from ministers to make a
balanced assessment on behalf of the public.
”This policy was cobbled together, in haste, in just six weeks
after last May’s election – and it shows.“
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information please contact Unite communications
officer Shaun Noble on 07768 693940
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