NHS Commissioning Board

Baroness Keeley Excerpts
Tuesday 5th March 2013

(11 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Norman Lamb Portrait Norman Lamb
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It is absolutely not the case that the regulations, as currently drafted, drive the privatisation of the NHS. As the hon. Gentleman will discover in the next few days, the amended regulations will make it abundantly clear that CCGs will be in the driving seat—the letter from the former Secretary of State made that clear back in 2012. They will take into account the importance of co-operation, integration and putting the patient’s interest first.

Baroness Keeley Portrait Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
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On competition and integration, my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) and I spent some time this morning talking to academics from Sweden, who told us how competition and fragmentation were preventing them from moving ahead with integration. The Minister should be concerned about the integration of health care and social care, so will he address that point? We will certainly never make progress on integrating health care and social care if we move ahead with all this privatisation, which will lead to a lot more fragmentation. Leaving that aside, 70 of my constituents also think this is just the wrong way to go.