Unison launches legal action over NHS White Paper

Health union Unison has started legal action against the Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley, claiming that he has refused to properly consult the public on proposals in the White Paper "Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS".

The union made a judicial review application to the High Court last week (24 August 2010) after chief executive of the NHS Sir David Nicholson wrote to all NHS chief executives instructing them to start implementing the White Paper proposals immediately. Unison says that this is unlawful and argued that no steps should be taken to implement the changes in any way until the public have had the opportunity to consider and comment on them.

In response, Sir David said he would write again to NHS chief executives reminding them that they should not implement the White Paper proposals until the consultation period has ended, but he stressed that the consultation was limited to how the proposals should be implemented not on whether they should be implemented.

In a statement, Karen Jennings, Unison head of health, said: "I find it incredible that the NHS chief executive would say he believes there is no legal duty on the Secretary of State to consult on the merits of the proposals in the White Paper.

"The White Paper contains sweeping changes to the NHS and how it should be run. The NHS Constitution enshrines the principle that the public, staff and unions have an absolute right to be consulted. And that means not only on how the proposals are to be implemented, but also whether they should go ahead in the first place.

"The Department of Health’s refusal to recognise this clear and important legal duty leaves us no option but to issue legal proceedings as a matter of urgency."

A DoH spokesman said that the DoH considers its decisions on the consultation to be lawful and it will be defending the claim by Unison.