In 2021 the Conservative Government put forward a White Paper – now a parliamentary Bill – on the future of health and social care. SOHS is working with other national campaigns to overturn the main proposals of this Bill. We reject the break-up of our National Health Services into 42 separate ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICSs) which will be used to further ration access to care and to embed corporate interests at the heart of care commissioning.

SOHS Councillors Briefing

This paper clarifies the contents and implications of the White Paper. Please use it to send to your own councillors, who may or may not have already received it.

Download the briefing: SOHS Councillors Briefing on the White Paper May 2021

White Paper with Footnotes

The White Paper for Health and Social care is 83 pages long. We have highlighted the text at many points in coloured ink, with footnotes on these in matching colours, page by page. The White Paper proposes:

  1. All NHS funding to be held and controlled by ICS boards by April 2022 which have the footprint roughly of county council. No CCGs, no funding to foundation/NHS trusts direct from NHS England
  2. NHS/Foundation trusts will be forced to meet financial targets and not overspend, ie funding will be capped.
  3. ICSs will have full control of NHS/Social care funding to allocate as they see fit. Funding for primary, secondary care and adult social care will be pooled, held by ICSs and service providers will be commissioned by the ICS who entirely decide how the NHS/Social care funding pot is spent to provide health and social care services to their population. Private providers can sit on the ICS board and can be awarded contracts.
  4. Removal of competitive tendering while including private providers. This is exactly what happened in Covid with PPE and T&T. No competitive tendering or accountability and that was the result. And the white paper says it is based on what the govt learnt from the Pandemic. Says it all.
  5. Unstipulated composition of ICS board members and how they are appointed + they can include private providers.
  6. Matt Hancock takes back the powers to appoint CEOs of NHS + Foundation Trusts.

Download the White Paper with Footnotes: White Paper with footnotes

Flyer explaining in brief our position on the Bill.