Health and Social Care Act 2001
The Health and Social Care Act 2001 (c 15) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It represented the Labour Party's turn towards private health sector after decades of anti-privatisation rhetoric.

Background
During 1997–2001, Labour had begun to "modernise" the National Health Service, by increasing investment and bringing the spending on health into line with peer European countries and had begun to reduce certain "marketisation" aspects.

Increasingly, many patients had begun to use private providers for healthcare, and for the 2001 general election,  Labour  decided that to prevent a 'sleepwaking to a US-style health-care system', patients would be able to access private health care through the NHS.

In August 2000, the Labour government announced the NHS Plan 2000,  then known as the "NHS Plan", which was described as the "biggest shake up of the NHS since it was established in 1948". The plan was described in an opinion piece for the British Medical Journal as "As good as it gets—make the most of it"

In November 2000, Alan Milburn signed a concordat with the private sector, a reversal of the dismantling of the marketisation policies under Frank Dobson.

Details

In 2003, provisions of the law abolished community health councils in England, which was controversial among Labour MPs, on the basis that they would be replaced by 'local patient advocacy groups'. These local groups were formed in April 2008. and patient and public involvement forums The guidance for these organisations was delivered to councils in 2003.

The act provided for primary care trusts (PCTs) and NHS trusts to be designated as care trusts in cases where they had local authority health-related functions delegated to them by agreement. These primary care trusts took over the functions of health authoriiesy, which were abolished under the   National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002. Social care in England was reorganised to be structured into these trusts which would pool their services - this was the first time that health and social care were integrated at the local level since the National Insurance Act 1970.

See also
National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003
NHS Plan 2000

References

External links
 The NHS Plan

Category:Health care reform
Category:Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England
Category:National Health Service (England)
Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2001
Category:2001 in England
Category:NHS legislation