Health Bill

The government has published the Health Bill, legislation that introduces significant reforms to the structure and governance of the National Health Service, including new powers for the Secretary of State to direct NHS England and measures designed to improve the integration of health and social care.

The bill is the most significant piece of health legislation since the Health and Care Act 2022 and reflects the government's determination to exert greater political control over the NHS while also addressing the deep structural problems — workforce shortages, ageing infrastructure, fragmented care — that have accumulated over decades of underinvestment and repeated reorganisation.

The bill gives the Secretary of State new powers to direct NHS England on matters of operational policy, reversing the "hands-off" approach that was established by the 2012 reforms and that was intended to insulate the NHS from political interference. The government argues that the change is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for the performance of the health service. Critics argue that it will politicise decisions that should be made on clinical and operational grounds.

The bill also introduces new duties on NHS bodies and local authorities to collaborate in the planning and delivery of health and social care, a response to the persistent failure of successive governments to integrate two systems that are administratively separate but operationally interdependent. The bill creates new "integrated care partnerships" with statutory powers and budgets, and it requires the development of joint workforce plans that address the needs of both health and social care.

The bill is expected to complete its parliamentary passage by mid-2027. The Health Secretary described it as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to reform the NHS and to ensure that it was fit for the challenges of the coming decades.