MPS and health campaigners are calling for widely criticised NHS reforms to be scrapped.

The Health and Care Bill is to receive its second reading in the Commons tomorrow, July 14 and many have called for it to be dropped due to concerns over NHS privatisation.

Brighton MP Caroline Lucas has come out against the new legislation and supports those protesting the new legislation tomorrow outside Parliament.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth will be protesting along with other Labour MPs and health campaigners.

They believe the bill will cause a top-down reorganisation of the NHS and will ultimately result in a lack of control and local accountability.

Ms Lucas said that the last year has shown a renewed love and respect for the NHS but that this Bill will not help it recover from the pandemic: "No amount of clapping for carers on the doorstep of Number 10 changes the fact that the NHS is not safe in Tory hands."

The Argus: Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth will be at the protest tomorrow (July 14) at the Commons

While Mr Ashworth said: "After a year in which cronyism and outsourcing has seen billions wasted on duff PPE and failing contact tracing, patients and staff know this is the last thing the NHS needs."

Here are the key takeaways from the Bill:

  • It will see the possibility of a wave of NHS contracts being awarded to private companies and the removal of compulsory competitive tendering process for health services and meaning that contracting out to the private sector without checks will be far easier.
  • Private companies will also be able to sit on local health boards that coordinate services.
  • The 106 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across England are to be abolished and replaced with just 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) that are led by chairmen appointed by the health secretary.
  • Campaigners have also highlighted that the Bill will repeal the section of the Care Act 2014 that requires local authorities to carry out social care needs assessments before a patient discharged from hospital.
  • 138 new powers will be awarded to the health secretary including to intervene if he sees fit in local plans to reconfigure services.

The secretary of Keep Our NHS Public, the organisers of tomorrow's protest, Dr John Lister believes that the new legislation will make it even easier for private companies to cherry-pick NHS contracts with minimal scrutiny or regulation and it will leave local people with less influence than ever over their health services: "It brings new dangers and no real benefit, and must be opposed."

READ MORE: Covid: Patients in Brighton avoided GP over fear for the NHS

The hashtag ScrapNHSBill is currently trending on Twitter with many people calling for widespread action against the bill.

EveryDoctor campaigning organisation has called for members of the public to write their local MPs to scrap the bill, so far 7,724 letters have been sent.

CEO Dr Julia Patterson said that the Bill offers Sajid Javid "significant control of NHS decisions at a local level and will allow further fragmentation and privatisation of the NHS."