Andrew Lansley defends health Bill plans The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have called for the Bill to be scrapped. It follows a move by the British Medical Association (BMA) in December to also fully oppose the Health and Social Care Bill, currently going through Parliament. The RCN, the biggest nursing union, said "serious concerns" have not been addressed during the parliamentary process, listening exercise or political engagement and the Bill will not deliver on the principles originally set out. Recent announcements such as the rise in the cap on private patients being treated in NHS hospitals to almost half (49%) "make the Bill in its entirety a serious threat to the NHS," it said. But Mr Lansley today backed the reforms, telling BBC Breakfast the opposition to the Bill was more about issues of pay and pensions. He said the legislation was "essential in order to give nurses and doctors clinical leadership." "I'm afraid the only thing that has happened in the last few weeks that has led to this situation with the Royal College of Nursing is that the two sides of the Royal College of Nursing have shifted," Mr Lansley said. There used to be a professional association that was working with us on professional issues and will carry on doing that, but now the trade union aspect of the Royal College of Nursing has come to the fore, they want to have a go at the Government - I completely understand it - but they want to have a go about things like pay and pensions. The Bill actually enables the NHS to deliver efficiency savings and improve performance - not least because actually the Bill is part of the process of cutting administration in the NHS. It takes about £1.5 billion a year out of NHS administration costs because it reduces that superstructure of bureaucracy in the NHS - over the course of this Parliament it will deliver over £4 billion savings itself. Through the NHS Future Forum we have been out there, making sure, and doing it ourselves time and again, that we're taking staff with us in terms of understanding these issues. And the RCN and the RCM are very clear that they support the principles of the Bill. What they are actually unhappy about is pay, pensions and jobs. I complete understand that. But if there were no Bill the same issues would have to be addressed. We inherited a deficit, we are having to manage the NHS within limited increases, but actually next year the NHS budget is going to go up by 2.8%. Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the RCN, said: "Opposing this Bill is not a decision we have taken lightly - we have worked hard on behalf of all our members to influence the decisions that have been taken as the Bill has gone through Parliament. However, it is now clear that these 'reforms' are forging ahead on the ground - without the concerns of nurses and other clinicians being heeded. We have sought a range of assurances, but now feel that the reforms as they stand could have the opposite effect from that which was intended. The RCN has been on record as saying that withdrawing the Bill would create confusion and turmoil; however, on the ground, we believe that the turmoil of proceeding with these reforms is now greater than the turmoil of stopping them. The sheer scale of member concerns, which have been building over recent weeks, has led us to conclude that the consequences of the Bill may be entirely different from the principles which were originally set out. The RCN feels that these concerns are so fundamental that we must now oppose the Health and Social Care Bill. The RCM added that the Bill was "divisive and costly." Chief executive Cathy Warwick said: "This Bill is a massively expensive distraction from the challenges that the NHS faces in trying to improve healthcare at a time of severe spending restraint. The Royal College of Midwives supports many of the Government's aspirations for the NHS, such as clinically led commissioning, greater engagement of service users in their care and more integrated services, but the fact of the matter is that these can all be achieved without the need for this divisive and costly Bill. Independent analysts have calculated that implementing the provisions in the Bill will cost the NHS an extra £2 billion to £3 billion on top of the £20 billion in efficiency savings the NHS has to find in the next four years. The Government has failed to present sufficient evidence that its proposals are necessary. They have failed to present evidence that the upheaval will result in an improvement in services to the people of England. And, they have failed to answer the concerns of the people who fear for the future of the NHS under these plans. Breaking up what we have, embracing the private sector, and injecting full-blown competition and market forces is not what the NHS needs or what health professionals and patients want. We join the growing chorus of voices calling for the Bill to be withdrawn, and the proposed reforms stopped in their entirety. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "It's hard to see how David Cameron can carry on with his health Bill after the decisions taken by the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives."