The British Medical Association (BMA) has “overwhelmingly” voted to oppose the Health and Care Bill ahead of its second reading today. The group, which is the main group representing doctors in the UK, called on MPs to block the bill, warning it poses “significant risks” to the NHS.
The news raised cheers from campaigners who gathered outside Parliament this afternoon to call on MPs to vote down the profound new reforms to the English NHS.
Speakers including Labour’s Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said that the bill did nothing to integrate the NHS or improve provision. Instead, he said, it made it easier for NHS contracts to be awarded to private health firms without proper process or advertising.
Ashworth also said that the bill would also allow private firms to sit on new local boards that will decide what services are provided and whether they are privatised or even cut altogether – risking serious potential conflicts of interest.
The BMA’s intervention, coming in advance of today’s second reading, is particularly significant as the doctor’s union did not oppose the last major NHS reforms, in 2012, until much later in the process.
Tony O’Sullivan, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public, also read out messages of solidarity from supporters and cross-party MPs.
Labour MP Margaret Greenwood warned: “This bill will lead to a postcode lottery, increased local rationing of healthcare and the deregulation of medical professions. It hands the NHS, our most treasured institution, over to big business and is a betrayal of our shared vision of the NHS as a comprehensive universal public service.”
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