Health and Social Care Bill 2011
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Since the Health and Social Care Bill was introduced in January 2011 the RCN has been active meeting with and briefing parliamentarians from all parties on the concerns of our members with the proposals as set out in the bill. These concerns are based around the belief that the combines measures of reform and efficiency savings could negatively impact on the quality of patient care. In particular, the RCN calls for changes to the bill to ensure:
- care is not fragmented, leading to inequalities in provision and an inability for clinicians and health providers to collaborate
- quality of patient care is not detrimentally affected by forced price competition
- nurses are represented at commissioning consortia board level and on the National Commissioning Board
- nationally agreed pay, terms and conditions are not threatened by moves to localised pay structures and negotiating.
On the 19 Janaury 2012, the RCN moved to a position of outright opposition to the Health and Social Care Bill and called for the bill to be withdrawn and for peers to vote against it. This decision was taken by RCN Council only after it felt that all other strategies of engagement with the Government and parliamentarians had failed to secure adequate amendment to the bill which would guard against the potential negative impact of the bill upon the NHS.
The RCN has released the following briefing to the House of Lords in advance of Report stage of the Bill's passage through the Lords:
- House of Lords Report Stage Briefing (PDF 341KB) (February 2012)
The RCN has issued several other briefings to parliamentarians as the Bill has progressed. The briefings documents are listed below:
- House of Commons Second Reading Briefing (PDF 510KB) (January 2011)
- House of Commons Public Bill Committee Stage Briefing (82KB) (February 2011)
- House of Commons Public Bill Committee Stage Briefing following legislative ‘pause’ (52KB) (June 2011)
- House of Commons Third Reading briefing (102KB) (September 2011)
- House of Lords Second Reading Briefing (133KB) (October 2011).
The RCN also issued briefings in support of specific amendments:
- Public Bill Committee specific briefing in support of Labour Opposition ‘Amendment 19’ on gaining nurses a position on local commissioning frameworks (50KB) (February 2011)
- Public Bill Committee specific briefing in support of Government ‘Amendment 98’ on securing a position for nurses upon local commissioning frameworks (73KB) (June 2011)
- House of Lords Committee stage, in support of ‘Amendment 139’, to mandate for safe staffing levels and ratios (90KB) (November 2011)
- House of Lords Committee stage, in support of ‘Amendment 338’, to legislate for mandatory regulation of health care support workers (65KB) (November 2011).