The politics of vagueness haunts NHS 'privatisation' bill

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.'

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