Cheshire Labour MP fears new NHS Bill will lead to yet more privatisation

Cheshire MP Mike Amesbury fears the Health and Care Bill going through Parliament will ‘turbocharge’ NHS privatisation while giving the green light to Tory cronyism.

Not only would the latest restructure give private companies ‘a seat at the table’ but it would make decision-making remote from the communities being served, he claims.

Dubbed the ‘corporate takeover bill’, the proposed legislation passed its second reading in the Commons on Wednesday (July 14) after Labour’s amendment to block the bill was voted down.

The Government says it wants to build a modern health and care system that delivers better and more joined-up care in local communities.

But Mr Amesbury, Labour MP for Weaver Vale, fears it will do the opposite if it becomes law.

In particular, he worries removing the compulsory competitive tendering process for health services will actually make it easier for them to be contracted out to the private sector without checks.

He said: “To truly end disruptive competition and establish a collaborative, joined-up health care system, as is the Government’s stated aim, the NHS must be established as the default option for NHS contracts.

“This bill does not do that. It hardwires private providers into a new NHS landscape, delivered via 42 Integrated Care Organisations (ICOs) remote from the communities they are supposed to serve.

“The one progressing in my area covers the whole of Cheshire and Merseyside. I have real concerns about the accountability to people and local communities.”

Mr Amesbury, who recently attended regional rally in Chester to defend the NHS, added: “American health insurance companies snapping up GP surgeries, creating private for-profit monopolies, can have a seat at the table of an ICO.

“Virgin Care and many more will clamour to join this marketised and privatised club. The cronyism and VIP fast lanes exposed by this opposition and by campaign groups during the pandemic will be given a green light by statute if this bill passes.

“The lauded aim to integrate social care is built on a foundation of quicksand. Twelve years of Tory government have ripped out £8 billion from social care with no sign of a plan promised again and again.”

Pictured - Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury.