MPs threaten rebellion over foundation hospitals
Tony Blair is facing a backbench rebellion over controversial plans for foundation hospitals in the House of Commons this afternoon.
The Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill, will go before Parliament for its final stages today. At its last hearing in May, 65 Labour MPs voted against the Government, and these rebels hope even more MPs will join them now.
John Reid, the new Health Secretary, has been trying to play down the significance of foundation hospitals to MPs. He hopes that a new amendment which places a legal duty on foundation hospitals to ensure that the board is ‘grounded in the local community’ will persuade them to support the bill.
Foundation hospitals will be semi-independent from Whitehall with powers to raise their own funds. However there are concerns that this will lead to a two-tier health service.
The Liberal Democrats have said they will vote against foundation hospitals and Evan Harris, their spokesman on health, told the BBC that under the plans ‘hospital will be set against hospital, some patients will do well, some patients will suffer’.
At a recent conference of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS managers, two leading trusts expressed doubts about the way in which foundation hospitals would be governed.
