Too little, too late
The recent announcement by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) to oppose the introduction of the Health and Social Care bill is odd. In fact, just as odd as the Secretary of State (Andrew Lansley) dismissing any opposition as attributable to the trade union militants in the RCN/RCM ranks.
The announcement is particularly odd as the Bill is now in its final stages at the House of Lords and, unless we see a mass revolt by the Liberals in the House of Commons, it will pass.
The Society of Radiographers, along with UNISON, BMA, UNITE and the GMB have already opposed the principles in the Bill of forced competition and the influx of private health care in favour of improved NHS management and investment, so the announcement by the RCN and RCM means that they are coming late to the party. The TUC campaign is still active and parliamentary work is proceeding with Ministers. Not unsurprisingly, the Secretary of State stated that any opposition to the Health Bill was driven by changes in pension entitlement, the wage freeze and job cuts.
Unfortuantely for them, the Government had the expectation that health, at least, would be the one public service that would give them good news. That vain hope is fading fast and the cosy relationship the Government hoped to have with the professional bodies in the NHS may now be irrevocably broken.
The question for the Government is what now for the future of a Bill that no one wants? The question for the RCN and RCM are what will they do to stop the Bill becoming law when it is already well on its way through parliament and redundancy notices have been issued to staff? They could join the TUC campaign but is this also too little too late?
Warren Town
SCoR Director of Industrial Relations
Click here to read the Royal College of Radiologists' statement opposing the Health and Social Care Bill in its current form.
Warren's blog commenting on the joint statement by the British Medical Journal, Nursing Times and the Health Service Journal, which criticises the Government's proposed reforms, can be found here.