Reject the Efford Bill con

trick
Clive Effords Private Members Bill will be debated in the
House of Commons on 21st November.
It was only published two weeks before the debate, giving little
time to work out what it really says - which turns out to be a
big con trick.

The big con is:

the left hand removes the NHS from EU competition law and
its requirement to allow private health care companies to bid
for contracts, by repealing S 75 of the 2012 Health & Social
Care Act.
the right hand restores the NHS to EU competition law, by
categorising the NHS as a Service of General Economic
Interest.
Alice in Wonderland legal skullduggery over when an NHS
contract is not an NHS contract, allows some contracts - for
instance, potentially the 2016 privatisation of all
Commissioning Support Units in England - to be awarded to
a private monopoly like the NHS chiefs former employer,
United Health.

Other cons are:

The Efford Bill doesnt:
bring back the Sec of States duty to provide a
comprehensive universal health service
end NHS marketisation/privatisation
remove private health care companies that are already in the
NHS

Published by Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker, 19 Unity St, Hebden

Bridge, HX7 8HQ. Printed by....

Reject the Efford Bill con

trick
categorise the NHS as a non-commercial, non-marketised
public service, which would free it from EU competition law
and privatisation and protect it from TTIP

But it does:
give the Sec of State the power to overrule decisions by
NHS commissioners or providers on the grounds, that
theyre anti-competitive. So this undermines Burnhams
commitment that Labour would make the NHS the preferred
provider - it allows private healthcare companies to
challenge commissioners awards of contracts to NHS
preferred providers, by going to the Sec of State
Remove the 49% cap on the amount of private income that
Trusts & Foundation Trusts can earn
MPs should not vote the Efford Bill through its second reading.
It needs sending back for substantial revision to make it in any
way an improvement on the Health & Social Care Act 2012.
Labour-affiliated groups like London Socialist Alliance say
that as a Private Members Bill, the Efford Bill is limited in its
capacity but its a start.
It isnt. Its far reaching and radical in its sleight-of-hand
commitment to completing the NHS privatisation that the New
Labour government started.
More info here: https://jenny4mp.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/efford-billhas-finally-been-published-and-its-not-going-to-stop-nhs-cuts-and-sell-offs/
https://www.scribd.com/doc/246869185/Why-the-London-Socialist-HealthAssociation-is-Wrong-About-the-Efford-Bill
Published by Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker, 19 Unity St, Hebden
Bridge, HX7 8HQ.