After the debate and vote in the House of Lords on 24th April 2013 and the ending of the session of Parliament the new NHS Procurement Regulations have passed into law.
The regulations govern how public authorities like Clinical Commissioning Groups may lawfully arrange for services to be provided. The regulations have been highly contentious, with the Government asserting that they do not change the existing position, allows bundling of services, and puts the interests of patients first, while opponents including the BMA and several medical charities have claimed that they open the door to widespread privatisation by the back door, and, at the least spread confusion and invite companies to challenge CCG decisions in the courts. The latest set of regulations, now passed, gives the NHS competition regulator, Monitor, the power to annul contracts but not to force CCGs to put services out to tender.
Monitor is to finally simplify (or complicate) the situation by putting out a set of case studies intended to guide CCGs in their commissioning work.