Power for councils most important health reform, says Lansley

20 Jul 10
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said the most significant reform proposed in last week's white paper concerned the role of local councils, and that the impact on clinicians and hospitals would be minimal
By David Williams

20 July 2010

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said the most significant reform proposed in last week’s white paper concerned the role of local councils, and that the impact on clinicians and hospitals would be minimal.

Lansley told the Commons’ health select committee this morning that his plans to scrap primary care trusts and give commissioning powers to GP consortiums would not cause organisational upheaval.

The purpose of the white paper, he said, was to hand more power to patients and clinicians.

‘If you’re working in a GP practice, this isn’t a big change – the change is empowerment,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t change the character of existing foundation trusts, and it was always the plan to give every hospital trust foundation status.’

He acknowledged that there would be organisational reform, but claimed change would have happened anyway.

Instead, said Lansley, the decision to give local authorities responsibility for public health and a strategic role overseeing provision in their areas was the ‘most significant statement in the white paper’.

The secretary of state acknowledged that his plans deviated from the coalition government’s initial idea to introduce democratic representation on PCT boards. But, he insisted: ‘We have followed through on the logic of the coalition agreement.’

Lansley also denied that placing around 80% of the NHS budget in the hands of private contractors was tantamount to privatisation.

‘That is completely misleading,’ he said. ‘This is public money, commissioning public services, for the public.’

He added that bodies such as GP consortiums and foundation trusts would be statutory organisations, and would not be keeping public money as profit.

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