Health and Social Care Bill

Memorandum submitted by L A Gilbert (HS 75)

1. The Health and Social Care Bill requires that commissioning is done on a competitive basis, open to providers outside the NHS. There appears to be nothing in the Bill to prevent such providers from undercutting their NHS competitors, on temporarily uneconomic bases, in deliberate attempts to force the NHS providers out of operation. "Loss leading" to such end is accepted business practice.

2. The government has made clear that an NHS provider will not be bailed out if it goes over budget in order to fight off competition.

3. It would be most unfortunate if as a result some of our finest NHS hospitals were forced to close down.

March 2011