Everyone knows the NHS needs change. People are waiting too long for appointments. Too many patients feel they are passed from pillar to post. The system often feels too big, too slow and too far away from the people it is meant to serve.
I am sitting on the Bill Committee for the new Health Bill, which will examine this legislation line by line. My job is to make sure this new law works for patients, staff and local communities.
The biggest change is the abolition of NHS England, the national body that helps manage the NHS in England. Most people do not know what NHS England is or who runs it, even though it has huge influence over how the NHS works.
The Bill will bring many of its powers back under the control of the Department of Health and Social Care. That means clearer responsibility. The NHS is paid for by the public, and the public deserve to know who is in charge. If things go wrong, those responsible must answer for it.
Local health bodies, called Integrated Care Boards, will have a clearer job. They will have more responsibility for planning local services, including more primary care services such as GP, dental, pharmacy and eye care services.
That means decisions are made closer to patients by people who understand local priorities.
The Bill also changes how patients are listened to.
The NHS has too many management bodies, too many layers and too much confusion. Patients often do not know who to speak to. Families tell their story again and again, reports are written, but many still feel nothing changes.
Under this Bill, the job of listening to patients will move closer to the people who actually make decisions.
For health services, local Integrated Care Boards would take on this role. For social care and public health, local councils would take it on. In plain English, this means fewer middlemen and clearer responsibility.
If patients cannot get a dentist, local NHS leaders should hear that directly, and if people are being bounced around the system, the organisations in charge should not be able to hide behind another body.
As a member of the Bill Committee, I will be scrutinising this closely.
My aim is clear. I want to see less management and more action, and an NHS where patients are not just consulted, but listened to, and their experiences result in real change for the better.