Health bosses slam NHS reforms as ‘distraction’ in battle to find £20bn cuts and care costs say health chiefs

The warning came as it was reported an influential cross-party group of MPs plans to heavily criticise the revamp of how health services are provided in England.

But Ministers vowed to press on with changes, which have already been diluted from original proposals, amid calls from the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives to scrap the Health and Social Care Bill.

NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said: “From the outset, we have made clear the Government’s reforms to the administrative structures of the NHS are a distraction in terms of addressing these fundamental challenges.

“We are therefore increasingly worried by the lack of clinical support for the reforms and the fact clinical opposition to the changes has hardened in recent days. This is a major risk. We have always said that buy-in from healthcare professionals is the key to delivering a workable set of reforms.

“We need some pragmatism and realism, along with the politics, if we are to steer the NHS through these incredibly choppy waters.”

Yesterday’s Observer said the Commons Health Committee would this week claim Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s shake-up was obstructing efforts to make the NHS more efficient. It said a committee chaired by Conservative former Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell had concluded the plan to devolve power to GPs was making it more difficult to hit efficiency savings by 2014-15.

Labour branded Mr Lansley’s reforms a “monumental mistake” and demanded a rethink. Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: “This report is a damning indictment of the Government’s mishandling of the NHS.”

Health Minister Simon Burns said: “We all know the NHS is facing pressures from an ageing population and the increasing costs of medicines.

“That’s why we are spending an extra £12.5bn on the NHS. We have also made £7bn in efficiency savings as performance has improved: record low infection rates, mixed sex wards down by over 90 per cent and people waiting over a year reduced by half.

“These will all help in the short term, but if we are to put the NHS on a sustainable footing for the future reform is essential.”