ABSTRACT
In September 2011, the Constitution Committee reported on the Health and Social Care Bill. Their conclusion was that it was not clear whether the existing political and legal structures which were necessary to ensure accountability for the National Health Service (NHS) would continue to operate as before, if the Bill was enacted in its current form. Earl Howe, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, described the Bill as one of 'profound importance for the quality and delivery of health and care in England, for patients and for all those who care for them and that it is 'quite rightly the subject of intense scrutiny'. In his opening statement, he reiterated support for the 'founding principles of the NHS', that it be a comprehensive service, free at point of use, regardless of ability to pay, and funded from general taxation, and that the Service should aspire to highest standards of service for all our citizens.
