THE Royal College of Nursing has just made a big decision: it decided to call for the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill to be abandoned.

Since then, the RCN – and nurses – have come in for criticism over this.

The decision to oppose this bill was not one that was made lightly. For a long time we did not oppose the reforms as a whole and we worked hard to engage with the Government at every stage of the reform process in order to get nurses’ concerns taken into account.

Unfortunately, it is now clear to us that the reforms are going ahead in Oxfordshire and beyond, without the genuine concerns of nurses and other NHS staff being listened to at all.

This view has now been backed up by an all-party group of MPs on the Parliamentary health select committee, which also believes the Bill has caused harm to the NHS.

The recent announcement that NHS hospitals will now be able to get 49 per cent of their income from private patients has alarmed us, raising fears that NHS patients will end up forced to queue for treatments behind those who can afford to pay.

We also believe that this complex and costly reform process cannot take place at the same time as the current drive to save £20bn in the NHS by 2014 without seriously destabilising the NHS and depriving patients of the care they deserve right now.

In England alone, 48,000 posts are to be cut, which will undoubtedly deeply affect patient care.

It has been suggested that the RCN is opposed to the Bill because it is unhappy about changes to NHS pensions, but this is false.

It is not about vested interests but about deep and honest concerns about the state of the health service and the impact on patients and staff.

PATRICIA MARQUIS Director, South East Region Royal College of Nursing