Deputy PM will oppose idea for regulator to promote competition within NHS

Nick Clegg will oppose the idea of a regulator to promote competition in the health service - a key plank of the Government's controversial NHS reforms, according to the BBC.

The Deputy Prime Minister has signed off a policy document that states the heath service must not be treated as if it were a "utility" with its "own economic regulator".

He has instead called for a regulator that has a duty to push NHS collaboration rather than competition.

Mr Clegg's stance directly opposes the one taken by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, who is pushing to increase competition within the NHS to drive down prices.

In the blueprint of his Health and Social Care Bill, Mr Lansley has proposed that the watchdog Monitor, which currently scrutinises hospital finances, is also given the duty of promoting competition in the provision of health services.

However, Mr Clegg believes Monitor should instead promote and protect the interests of the patient.
Addressing fellow Liberal Democrat MPs and peers at a meeting last night, he said he would "never let the profit motive get in the way of the essential purposes of the NHS".

The policy document, obtained by the BBC after being signed by the Liberal Democrat leader, says: "We cannot treat the NHS as if it were a utility, and the decision to establish Monitor as an 'economic regulator' was clearly a misjudgment, failing to recognise all the unique characteristics of a public health service, and opening us up to accusations that we are trying to subject the NHS to the full rigours of UK and EU competition law.

"I have come to the conclusion that we must not make this change."

Mr Clegg has vowed to veto the legislation - elements of which are deeply unpopular among Liberal Democrat MPs and activists - as part of efforts to demonstrate a greater influence by his party in the Tory-led coalition Government following disastrous results at the ballot box earlier this month.