A campaign group, supported by Leigh Day, has lodged a judicial review against NHS England, claiming the contract for accountable care organisations breaches the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
NHS England have said the “mistaken campaign” was an attempt to “frustrate the move to more integrated care”. Earlier this week Leigh Day submitted review papers on behalf of the campaign group, arguing the contract breaches s. 155 and 116 of the Act. These relate to the price a commissioner pays for NHS services and regulations around the national tariff. The main basis for the judicial review is that under current legislation prices paid for NHS services must reflect how many patients receive the care under that specific service, while the ACO contract allows commissioners to give providers a fixed budget for an area’s population.
NHS England have said: –
“The NHS will strongly resist this mistaken campaign to frustrate the move to more integrated care between hospitals, mental health and community services.
The inevitable effect would be to fragment care and drive apart the very people who are now rightly trying to work more closely together on behalf of the patients they jointly serve”.
