Section 119 of the Care Bill currently going through Parliament is a lot more insidious than has been realised. It allows trust special administrators (TSAs) to close down any hospital or A&E with just 40 days’ notice. The doctors and consultants are rightly up in arms about it because, contrary to all the assurances given when the Lansley bill was forced through the Commons in 2012, the NHS will be able to be reconfigured without any agreement from the new GP commissioners who are supposed to be running the service, and without any proper consultation with patients and the public. Continue reading →