Overview of the Health and Care Act
- The key purpose of the Health and Care Act is to give effect to the policies that were set out as part of the NHS’ recommendations for legislative reform in the NHS Long Term Plan
and in the White Paper "Integration and Innovation: Working together to improve Health and Social Care for all" published in February 2021.
- The Act:
- Promotes local collaboration;
- Allows for the reform of the NHS procurement rules;
- Improves accountability and seeks to enhance public confidence in the health and care system; and
- Delivers a range of targeted measures to support people at all stages of life.
- The Act builds on recommendations for reform set out by NHS England in the NHS Long Term Plan published in 2019. Enshrining the NHS Long Term Plan in legislation was also a Conservative Manifesto Commitment in the 2019 General Election.
- The Act also contains provisions relating to social care, public health and quality and safety in the NHS. These are designed to address specific problems or remove barriers to delivery and to maximise opportunities for improvement, and have, in some cases, been informed by the experience of the pandemic.
- The Act contains 7 parts with 19 Schedules addressing a range of issues relating to health and social care. The Act makes changes to a number of existing Acts, most notably the National Health Service Act 2006 (the NHS Act 2006) and the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (the 2012 Act).
