NHS reform concessions offered by PM

David Cameron has made a series of concessions to the coalition's NHS reform plans.

The move - triggered by Liberal Democrat opposition to the pace and scale of the changes proposed in the health and social care bill - largely comes following pressure by the Liberal Democrats.

Anger that competition is being overly promoted has led to a pledge that Monitor will be given a duty to promote integration between services, rather than solely promoting competition.

Concerns that the health service will be forced to rush through the changes have prompted the coalition to abandon its plan to force GP consortia to begin commissioning services by 2013.

And worries that only allowing GPs to conduct commissioning has led to hospital doctors and nurses being brought into the process, too.

The NHS Future Forum, the body which has undertaken the six-week listening pause which concluded last week, is expected to issue its recommendations to the government next week.

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