NHS reforms in Lords today

The Health and Social Care Bill has already received substantial amendments and more are expected.

The Lords are set to debate the bill today and tomorrow and more than 100 peers have requested the chance to speak.

They are then set to vote on the bill tomorrow.  

Some Labour peers are expected to table an amendment calling for the bill to be completely scrapped, while Lib Dems have vowed to push for further changes.

The crossbench peers, Lords Owen and Hennessey, have tabled an amendment calling for parts of the bill to be sent for further scrutiny.

The RCM yesterday released a statement supporting this notion in which sections of the bill would go in front of a special select committee, which would allow witnesses to give evidence.

Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the RCM, said: ‘We hold significant reservations about the Health and Social Care Bill. 

‘We remain far from convinced that the bill in its current form will enable the NHS to progress for the benefit of patients.’

The original plans were so controversial that the government halted the legislation while it carried out a ‘listening exercise’ with critics of the reforms.

The bill was then and altered considerably before continuing its course in the Commons.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Westminster Bridge in central London to urge peers to scrap the bill at the weekend.

While, last week, almost 400 health professionals and academics wrote to peers asking them to vote against the bill.

They arguing it would do ‘irreparable harm to the NHS, to individual patients, and to society as a whole’.

The government says the changes are vital to help the NHS cope with the demands of an ageing population, the costs of new drugs and treatments and the impact of lifestyle factors, such as obesity.

After the Lords have debated and voted on the bill, it will be passed back to the House of Commons.