Never Again? The story of the Health and Social Care Act 2012

Health and Social Care Act 2012

Posted:12 July 2012
Comments 18 comments

Authors

Nicholas Timmins

Publication details

Pages: 150

Never Again? The story of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 explains why and how the Act became law; from the legislation’s origins 20 years ago, through the development of the 2010 White Paper Liberating the NHS to the passage of the controversial Bill through both Houses of Parliament.

The book, published jointly by the Institute for Government and The King’s Fund, focuses on what Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, is trying to achieve through the NHS reforms and considers the role the Liberal Democrats played in introducing amendments to the legislation and passing the Bill.

Written by ex-Financial Times public policy editor Nicholas Timmins, the book discusses:

the fact that details of the NHS reforms remained unclear before the May 2010 election
how ‘the pause’ to the legislation came about
the appointment of Sir David Nicholson as chief executive designate of the NHS Commissioning Board
Andy Burnham, Shadow Health Secretary, reviving opposition to the Bill
how the coalition government helped the passage of the legislation through the House of Lords.

Never Again? draws some early lessons from the process of legislation and change surrounding the reforms and explains why the Secretary of State for Health believes that the NHS will ‘never again’ need to undergo such a huge structural change. It also raises the possibility that Andrew Lansley could emerge as a hero of public sector reform.

Comments

Looks interesting. Any chance of a Kindle version?

Hi Rob - we don't have a Kindle version of the book, however we are hoping to develop Kindle versions of our publications in the future.

I like reading a book...are you selling a hardcopy please?

Hi Nick - At the moment, hard copies of the book are with the Institute for Government. However The King's Fund will be selling copies within the next couple of weeks. Will let you know when they're available.

Nick, an excellent overview! But is there an even stronger criticism to be made? Has the enormous focus on structural change allowed politicians to side-step the far more serious challenge of how health services need to be reconfigured to deliver quality and financial sustainability? The whole Clarke/Millburn/Lansley programme, whatever its merits, remains curiously silent on this. Worse, most politicians use their political capital not to explain but to oppose configuration changes. We may or may not now have the most elegant structure imaginable, but has it all been a displacement of energy and leadership from the main challenge facing the NHS?

Sarah and Rob,

As this is a PDF document, it'll probably be readable as it stands on a kindle. You can also get it converted and sent to your kindle by Amazon (see amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_rel_topic?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200767360) and I guess I would go for the free option.

John

I am visually impaired - I am experiencing difficulty reading the timeline. Also, is an audio version available please? I am gathering information to present to a joint health and social work team meeting on the changes the Act will impact for both learning disability nurses and social workers working in a local authority.

Hi Christine,

Unfortunately we don't have an audio version of this presentation, but I can send a word document of the content to you, which you should be able to read using a screen reader.

I will send this over to you via email now.

Thanks,

Jen

Are there any updates as to when the print version will be available yet?

I have been front line in all this both as a patient/carer and community volunteer since prior to 1997 and would love to be able to read your book,when will it available to the wider public?I bet we the patients/carers could make a worthwhile contribution