Health and Social Care Bill 2010-11

The Bill proposes to create an independent NHS Board, promote patient choice, and to reduce NHS administration costs.

Key areas
    * establishes an independent NHS Board to allocate resources and provide commissioning guidance
    * increases GPs’ powers to commission services on behalf of their patients
    * strengthens the role of the Care Quality Commission
    * develops Monitor, the body that currently regulates NHS foundation trusts, into an economic regulator to oversee aspects of access and competition in the NHS
    * cuts the number of health bodies to help meet the Government’s commitment to cut NHS administration costs by a third, including abolishing Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities.