The last Labour government brought in foundation trusts, (to create a level playing field for private providers,) introduced Independent Sector Treatment Centres (to cream off the profitable easy procedures under the guise of driving down waiting lists which existing hospitals could do if funded to) and started a PFI building program that The NHS will still be paying private venture banks for in thirty years time..

Absolute guarantees are nice things to talk about but when Andy Burnham, Labour's health shadow and ex secretary of state pointed out that they could have achieved most of their aims without the need for further legislation it was because Labour's legislative program for The NHS had already provided it...

This is bad legislation, takes the eye off the ball at the wrong time and loses a hell of a lot of talent with the huge redundancy program. I was fundamentally against it for many reasons, but the headline reasons that many others are fearful of have been around since The Health and Social Care Act 2003. Competition may drive up standards in double glazing companies but strong clinical networks spanning many hospitals lead to safer lower risk higher quality care, and that's not easy if it means cooperating with your competitors.