April 24 brought Lord Philip Hunt’s motion against the Health and Social Care Act Secondary Legislation Section 75 - a rarely achieved format in the Lords, only allowed in exceptional circumstances.
April 24 brought Lord Philip Hunt’s Pray Debate fatal motion against the Health and Social Care Act Secondary Legislation Section 75 – a rarely achieved format in the Lords, only allowed in exceptional circumstances.
Lords on all sides had been inundated with letters and emails of concern – not just, as Shirley Williams said in what must count as one of the most disingenuous speeches this parliament, due to “a blizzard” of distortion “extensively spread via social networks”, but because more and more of the general public had gained an understanding of basic procurement law.
If the law says that a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) may allocate a clinical service to a sole provider as long as none other are capable of running the service, then it stands to reason that the CCG will be more concerned with how to prove that when challenged than just going for the simple route of selecting their own long term preferred provider.
Far from the 40 staff of Monitor being equipped to block a legal avalanche, or Regulations 2 and 3 overriding errant 5, this is a lawyers-cum-privatisation charter which can only be stopped by CCGs undertaking the very tendering the coaltion are pretending they are preventing – whilst of course setting them up to do exactly that.
The Lib Dems decided that they would once again portray themselves as saviours of the faulty elements of the legislation – although some stared ahead in a rather fixed manner whilst Lord Clement-Jones and Shirley Williams spoke of the wondrous things they had done and of the terrible injustice in criticising their efforts.
Perhaps they had been hypnotised. Earl Freddie Howe turned his head from his front bench to fix his gaze upon Baroness Williams as she spoke – in part needy, in part threatening. Hopefully he had a crick in his neck afterwards.
They continually stated that their own changes in March, meant no change since 2010 – conveniently ‘forgetting’ that the introduction of the Health & Social Care Act has changed everything. If no change – why bother with the Act or Section 75 at all? Do they think we didn’t notice? Probably.
Lord Warner (of Lewisham ) was overtly the most audacious of the night – not for him the mealy mouthed meanderings of the Lib Dems. Everything he has been saying in private, came to the fore in publicly disowning Labour’s efforts. This man is all about competition and the ‘managed market’ – he clearly stated he was “with Earl Howe” before sinking low in his seat to mutterings of disapproval. Let us hope that the party soon disowns him in return.
Although Lord Hunt presented an excellent case, the whipped Lib Dems declared solidarity with Earl Howe, which sadly meant he really knew that it was lost before he started. The Tories had dragged out all of Thatcher’s old contemptibles and from the conspiratorial looks being shot across the chamber, it was evident that Shirley Williams had worked her ‘magic’ on a couple of key cross benchers – where there were also notable abstentions.
The most moving speech of the night came from Lord Owen – who spoke strong and true and visibly elicited more than a solitary tear when he mourned
‘tonight I feel one feeling only: overwhelming sadness’.
The debate in full: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/130424-0003.htm.
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64 Responses to “The ultimate betrayal – Shirley Williams and the Lib Dems hit the NHS where it hurts”
Paul Hilton
I didn’t say he was responsible for the attack on the English NHS, but i criticised him, justifiably, for trying to give the impression that there’s one pan-UK NHS. Equally, Cameron should have specified that he was talking about the English NHS. Mind you, all MPs and peers are guilty of saying “UK”, “Britain” or “British”, when they should be saying “England” or “English”, and so are the media, including this site, which disappoints me, as a Labour voter, albeit one who will give constructive criticism when necessary.
Cole
You keep mentioning this 40,000 figure. Let’s have the link. It’s much higher than the number used by anyone else. And the BMJ opposed the govt’s NHS privatisation bill
blarg1987
Yet you still have not said what is the number of avoidable deaths in other healtch care systems such as France, USA, Russia, China, Germany, Cuba, etc. Add to that that it is harder to find out if Private proividers have cocked up under the “commercial sensitivity” clause.
OldLb
You’re making a false comparison.
Here’s another false comparison.
The Victorian health system was great, the envy of the world. Look at how many lives the saved compared to the non existent health care in 1665 [Look the date up]
If you want to make a comparison, make it with another health system now, that has universal coverage such as Switzerland. The NHS is in comparison pre Victorian with patients left to die in excrement. Patients dying of dehydration. Patients being starved to death.
The nurses get blamed? Quite right in the cases were people are killed Same with the doctors. They are the ones ‘caring’ and killing people in most cases. The exception for those at the top is that hospital in Kent that killed hundreds through lack of cleaning. There it does go to the hospital administrators. All need to be jailed.
It’s nothing to do with being reorganised. It’s down to a basic attitude.You don’t leave people to die in their own shit. You do not deny them fluids when they need them. That is your ‘caring’ professionals not giving a shit.
It’s time to start jailing them, pour encourage les autres.
OldLb
Look it up. Go and get the BMJ out of your local library. It’s behind paywalls so you can’t have a link.