Lords Pass Controversial Health Bill

Peers in the House of Lords have rejected attempts to block or delay the Government's controversial health reforms.

The Health and Social Care Bill will now be subject to detailed scrutiny by the Lords between until the end of the year.

Peers voted against the amendment calling for the special scrutiny, which was likely to end passage of the bill, by 330 to 262. They also rejected an amendment to block the bill entirely by 354 to 220.

The British Medical Association (BMA) had written to all peers ahead of the two-day second reading debate highlighting its key fears about the bill proposalsm, such as increased private sector involvement and increased competition.

BMA council chairman Hamish Meldrum said they would continue to press for major amendments to the legislation.

"It remains the BMA position that the Health and Social Care Bill should be withdrawn, or if not that it should be substantially amended, and we will continue to raise our concerns at every available opportunity as the bill progresses through the House of Lords.

‘The BMA continues to have many areas of concern, including the need for assurance that increasing patients’ choice of provider for specific elements of their care won’t be given priority over the development of integrated services and fair access."

Mr Meldrum added that the association also needed to see an "explicit provision" that the Health Secretary would retain ultimate responsibility for comprehensive health services.

Meanwhile, Liz Kendall, Labour's Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, has highlighted a report from the Care Quality Commission which found a high number of older patients were denied basic help with eating, drinking, or going to the toilet.

They report, published don Thursday found that elderly patients were not treated with "dignity or respect" and that NHS services were "falling short".

"These problems are partly due to the pressures the NHS faces: big increases in demand, squeezed resources, and more very sick elderly patients ending up in hospital, often because they aren't getting the up-front care and support they need in the community and from social services.

"But there are deeper, cultural issues too. Healthcare is becoming increasingly specialised, with the risk that services too often focus on the medical and technical aspects of treatment and not on the basic human elements of care."

Ms Kendall said that the "real challenge" facing the NHS is to improve standards of care for patients whilst at the same time making significant efficiency savings.

"A huge structural re-organisation of the NHS will make it harder for the NHS to meet this challenge or to tackle the very serious problems raised by the CQC in its report.”

(DW/BMcC)