Health and Care Bill given Royal Assent and becomes law

The Health and Care Bill has become law and includes measures which are targeted at supporting data sharing between health and social care.

The bill, which received Royal Assent on April 28, has been backed by £36billion over the next three years through the Health and Care Levy.

Part of the bill includes addressing “the barriers to joined up working, by supporting data sharing between health and social care”.

Another measure included is for every part of England will be covered by an Integrated Care System (ICS) and to give these organisations statutory footing from 1 July 2022. ICSs have been established with the aim to coordinate services and to plan in a way that improves population health and reduces inequalities between different groups.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, said: “The Health and Care Act is the most significant change to the healthcare system in a decade and will put it in the strongest possible position to rebuild from the pandemic, backed by our record funding.

“These measures have broad support and will harness the best ways of working to ensure people are receiving high quality, joined up care.”

The Health and Care Act builds on the proposals for legislative change set out by NHS England in its Long Term Plan, while also incorporating valuable lessons learnt from the pandemic to benefit both staff and patients.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive said:  “The Covid pandemic has shown what can be achieved when we work together across NHS teams, organisations and systems with our partners in the care sector and beyond, and these reforms will help us to deliver for patients and their families.

“As the NHS works flat out to recover services and address the Covid-19 backlogs that have inevitably built up during the pandemic, these reforms will accelerate the changes set out in the NHS Long Term Plan that are already giving people greater choice, better support and more joined up care when they need it.”