Media round up as RCN opposes health bill

Writing in the Guardian today, Dr Peter Carter announced that the RCN has now moved to oppose the Health and Social Care bill because: “our concerns have not been listened to and the genuine anxieties we have on behalf of patients in England have been, to a large extent, ignored.”

In addition to the Guardian opinion piece, Dr Carter was interviewed live on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and on the BBC News Channel and Sky News. RCN Head of Policy and International, Howard Catton, was interviewed live on BBC Breakfast and on several radio stations across England. Dr Carter was also quoted in the Independent, the Daily Mirror, the Guardian, the Times, and  the Daily Telegraph. The Channel 4 News and ITV News websites have also covered the story.

One year ago today the Coalition Government introduced their Health and Social Care bill in the House of Commons. So over the past year the RCN has engaged with the Government on the bill; we’ve provided extensive briefings to MPs, given evidence to various committees and submitted amendments on key issues around staffing levels and HCA regulation.

We have a whole raft of concerns about the bill that have been raised on numerous occasions, including competition, the private patient income cap, nurse involvement, or lack thereof, and the absence of transparency around many of these complex issues. It is for these reasons, among others that the RCN has now moved to oppose the bill.