Five Division and opposition: the Health and Social Care Bill 2011
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Sally Ruane
Abstract
The chapter discusses opposition to the government’s proposals for health system reform set out in the White Paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, and in the 2011 Health and Social Care Bill. The discussion focuses on three institutions which played a significant role in the policy process surrounding the proposals: the Liberal Democrat Party as the junior partner in the Coalition, the British Medical Association, the main representative body of the medical profession, and the Labour Party, the official opposition. The chapter examines the character of the opposition they mounted to the proposals and the significance of internal contradictions or divisions and what this tells us about the contemporary politics of health. The chapter concludes that, in the case of health, the struggle over the bill points paradoxically to a more explicit convergence within the political class of policy and ideology.
Abstract
The chapter discusses opposition to the government’s proposals for health system reform set out in the White Paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, and in the 2011 Health and Social Care Bill. The discussion focuses on three institutions which played a significant role in the policy process surrounding the proposals: the Liberal Democrat Party as the junior partner in the Coalition, the British Medical Association, the main representative body of the medical profession, and the Labour Party, the official opposition. The chapter examines the character of the opposition they mounted to the proposals and the significance of internal contradictions or divisions and what this tells us about the contemporary politics of health. The chapter concludes that, in the case of health, the struggle over the bill points paradoxically to a more explicit convergence within the political class of policy and ideology.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- Notes on contributors vii
- 40th anniversary preface xi
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Universal Credit: overview and gender implications 15
- Family support and the Coalition: retrenchment, refocusing and restructuring 35
- Housing, the welfare state and the Coalition government 55
- The 2012/13 reforms of higher education in England: changing student finances and funding 77
- Division and opposition: the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 97
-
Social policy in the developed and developing worlds
- Immigrant-targeted activation policies: a comparison of the approaches in the Scandinavian welfare states 117
- Welfare retrenchment under Left and Right government leadership: towards a consolidated framework of analysis? 137
- From black hole to spring: the coming of age of social policy in the Arab countries? 165
- China’s developmental model in Africa: a new era for global social policy? 183
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Severe crisis: social policy in most challenging circumstances
- The Greek welfare state in the age of austerity: anti-social policy and the politico-economic crisis 205
- From opportunity to austerity: crisis and social policy in Spain 231
- From financial crisis to welfare retrenchment: assessing the challenges to the Irish welfare state 257
- The Great Recession and US social policy: from expansion to austerity 277
- Seeking refuge in the Nordic model: social policy in Iceland after 2008 297
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- Notes on contributors vii
- 40th anniversary preface xi
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Universal Credit: overview and gender implications 15
- Family support and the Coalition: retrenchment, refocusing and restructuring 35
- Housing, the welfare state and the Coalition government 55
- The 2012/13 reforms of higher education in England: changing student finances and funding 77
- Division and opposition: the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 97
-
Social policy in the developed and developing worlds
- Immigrant-targeted activation policies: a comparison of the approaches in the Scandinavian welfare states 117
- Welfare retrenchment under Left and Right government leadership: towards a consolidated framework of analysis? 137
- From black hole to spring: the coming of age of social policy in the Arab countries? 165
- China’s developmental model in Africa: a new era for global social policy? 183
-
Severe crisis: social policy in most challenging circumstances
- The Greek welfare state in the age of austerity: anti-social policy and the politico-economic crisis 205
- From opportunity to austerity: crisis and social policy in Spain 231
- From financial crisis to welfare retrenchment: assessing the challenges to the Irish welfare state 257
- The Great Recession and US social policy: from expansion to austerity 277
- Seeking refuge in the Nordic model: social policy in Iceland after 2008 297
- Index 319
