Last week, MPs debated the UK Government’s new Health Bill, also known as the NHS Modernisation Bill. The proposed reforms aim to represent a significant reshaping of how decisions are made, services delivered and patient voices heard across the NHS.

The Bill has been framed as mainly technical legislation to enact reforms already announced by the Government, such as the abolition of NHS England and introduction of the Single Patient Record.

However, the RCPCH has said:

“These reforms represent a significant reshaping of how decisions are made, services are delivered, and patient voice is heard across the NHS. As such, they have the potential to profoundly impact the work of paediatricians, the delivery of children’s health services, and ultimately whether the UK Government’s own ambition to create the healthiest generation of children ever will be realised.”

It has briefed MPs on five key principles that it says should guide NHS reform under this Bill: