UK government spells out new plan for NHS in England

GP commissioning consortiums in England will be obliged to include two lay members, a hospital specialist, and a nurse on their boards, the government has announced. Their name will be changed from GP or GP led consortiums to “clinical commissioning groups,” and they will be required to meet in public and publish their minutes.

To avoid conflicts of interest the nurse and specialist cannot be employed by local NHS providers, the government says in its response to the report of the Future Forum, the body it set up to elicit responses to its Health and Social Care Bill in the wake of charges that the bill would destroy the NHS.

While in most respects the government has accepted the forum’s recommendations, in this instance it has gone further by insisting on board level representation of the other medical specialties.

The forum, chaired by Steve Field, former chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, produced a series of recommendations that the government has accepted. These include changes to the role of Monitor, which was charged under the bill with promoting competition. This duty will be removed, and Monitor’s role will be restricted to …