NHS reforms in England

Thank you to all CSP members who got involved in the CSP campaign to voice concerns about the Bill by completing our surveys, writing to MPs, lobbying a lord or attending one of the TUC co-ordinated rallies and marches that have taken place across the country.

Since the Governments proposals for the NHS were first published in the Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS White Paper in June 2010, and the subsequent publication of the Health and Social Care Bill in January 2011, the CSP has raised deep concerns by responding to 14 official Government consultations, five Health Select Committee inquiries and to both phases of the ‘Listening exercise’ led by the NHS Future Forum.

We produced nine briefings for MPs and Peers and had numerous meetings with Parliamentarians from both Houses. The CSP’s concerns about the reforms have been widely covered in the media, with Phil Gray being interviewed on national television and radio news and quoted in most national newspapers. In the first 11 weeks of 2012 alone, there have been 438 items of CSP media coverage on the reforms with a reach of more than 1.25m and a publicity value equal to £559,743.25.

It is important to acknowledge, that although the Bill has been passed, all of this effort has secured a number of welcome changes on the issues the CSP has been most concerned about. The Government will go ahead with its plans to open the NHS up to more open-market competition, but it will have to proceed with more caution that it would have before. Intensive lobbying, by the CSP and others, secured a shift from the original proposal for GP-led commissioning, to broader clinically-led commissioning, opening the door for a much wider range of clinicians to be involved in the commissioning process.

Although the CSP amendments, moved by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, calling for a statutory role for Allied Health Professionals in commissioning were not passed, the Minister did agree to include reference to this in the official guidance to commissioners. This will help give CSP members leverage to argue the case for involvement in commissioning decisions locally.

In addition to this, the Government’s attempts to remove the Secretary of State for Health’s legal duty to provide a comprehensive health service failed. This responsibility has now been clarified in the legislation. Amendments were also passed which will require all providers of NHS funded healthcare, including those operating under the any qualified provider model, to contribute to the education and training of the healthcare workforce.

Over the coming months, attention will move to the implementation of the reforms, with NHS structures continuing to change. PCT and SHA clusters will begin to transfer responsibilities over to the new statutory bodies (Clinical Commissioning Groups and others) that are already developing in shadow form and aim to take up their duties from April 2013.

CSP will now support and equip members to focus on providing solutions to the new commissioners, demonstrating the positive value that physiotherapy can deliver for patients, society and the NHS.