Royal assent given to Health and Social Care Bill

Royal assent given to Health and Social Care Bill

By William Smith

The Health and Social Care Bill has gained Royal Assent and has become the Health and Social Care Act (2012).  In consequence doctors and nurses will now be able to tailor services for their patients whilst the patients will have more choice over how they are treated.  It is also hoped that bureaucracy in the NHS will be reduced.

A release from the Department of Health states that the Act will:

• Devolve power to front-line doctors and nurses: Health professionals will be free to design and tailor local health services for their patients;

• Drive up quality:  Patients will benefit from a renewed focus on improving quality and outcomes;

• Ensure a focus on integration: There will be strong duties on the health service to promote integration of services;

• Strengthen public health: Giving responsibility for local public health services to local authorities will ensure that they are able to pull together the work done by the NHS, social care, housing, environmental health, leisure and transport services;

• Give patients more information and choice: Patients will have greater information on how the NHS is performing and the range of providers they can choose for their healthcare. And they will have a stronger voice through Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch;

• Strengthen local democratic involvement: Power will shift from Whitehall to town hall – there will be at least one locally elected councillor and a representative of Healthwatch on every Health and Wellbeing Board, to influence and challenge commissioning decisions and promote integrated health and care; 

• Reduce bureaucracy: Two layers of management - Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities - will be removed through the Act, saving £4.5 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament, with every penny being reinvested in patient care.