Mr Cameron said his “U-turn” was a sign of strength and proof that his Government listened to serious concerns and acted accordingly.
The Government says it means hospital doctors, GPs and nurses and not bureaucrats or NHS managers will make treatment decisions as specialist commissioning boards replace GP consortia.
The pace of change has also been slowed with the earlier 2013 deadline pushed back indefinitely while those doctors’ practices ready to go will be encouraged to go ahead. Meanwhile, the Health and Social Care Bill goes back to committee stage to be examined by MPs in the coming months.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who angered many right-wing Tories for turning on proposals he originally endorsed, insisted the changes would now be “evolutionary, not revolutionary” and that he and his colleagues had prevented “the sort of free-market dogma that can fragment the NHS”.
Under the changes, GP consortia will now have wider membership and be called clinical commissioning groups, primary care trusts will still cease to exist in two years time – April 2013 – but commissioning groups will have to exist even if only in “shadow” form and will not be immediately required to take on budgets until ready to do so.
Crucially, the Health Secretary will still have executive accountability for the NHS – despite earlier attempts to remove this – and the NHS constitution will be embedded in the legislation providing key guarantees to patients.
