Brighton and Hove City Council leader Jason Kitcat on the NHS today

The NHS today has been through huge change since the vision was first set out in the post-war years. Successive governments have introduced key changes to the system, which have seen markets and competition embedded at the heart of the English NHS.

Unfortunately, previous and current governments have embedded this in national legislation. At the moment councils and GPs responsible for delivering health services have to put most contracts out for competitive bids from ‘any willing provider’, rather than being able to opt for the local NHS by default. In some places, this has seen health companies stepping in to make profit out of local people’s health.

We’d prefer to see public services provided by local not-for-profit providers. For example, as a city we agreed that we need to move more towards helping people get off drugs and alcohol, and back into the community, rather than just reducing the harm caused. Under the rules, this revised service then had to be re-commissioned from scratch.

An NHS Trust and a range of local charities already involved came out top in the bidding process – including being rated highly by people who use the service – so we’ve agreed to give them the contract. While it’s a change from the local Sussex NHS to Surrey NHS being involved, the reality is that under government legislation, NHS Trusts have been forced into competing on each other’s patches to win contracts and run services.

The current system ties councils, doctors and the NHS into a complicated system of contracts and competition, instead of just letting them get on with providing local services. This is why we put a motion to council calling for the national legislation to be overturned so that the NHS gets the funding and support it needs to deliver better health locally.