Conservative Mr Evans said the Health And Social Care Bill will ensure that the mothballing of high-tech facilities, such as last year’s closure of the Cheshire And Merseyside Treatment Centre in Runcorn, will not happen. He said the unit shut ‘due to the flawed private sector contract negotiated under Labour’.
Mr Evans added that provision of services by the private and charity sector will boost efficiency and that competition will be on quality and not price.
The MP said the MacMillan Cancer Support centre scheme, which provides respite care to chemotherapy and radiology patients, was a ‘brilliant’ example of a successful charity programme.
He added that the coalition has guaranteed that ‘the NHS will always provide treatment free when you need it, regardless of ability to pay’.
He said: “In order to protect the NHS, the Bill ensures that ‘cherry picking’ of the most lucrative treatments by private providers, as happened under Labour, is prohibited. We need to modernise the NHS to make it fit for the future.
“This includes competition to get the best possible treatment for patients. Competition has existed in the NHS for a long time. The last Government brought in the private sector. Competition and choice are good for patients.
“The Bill also ensures that there is competition on quality, not on price. Before the election we made it very clear we’d protect the NHS. That’s why even in tough times we’ve increased NHS spending.”