Under the Health and Social Care Act, by 27 March 2013 the Secretary of State for Health must report to Parliament on any matters which might affect the ability of NHS health care providers to provide health care services for the NHS or the reward available to them for doing so. In this context 'NHS health care providers' means organisations providing or intending to provide health care services for the NHS, whether NHS or private sector providers. CCGs will need to treat providers in accordance with the Secretary of State's final report.
The Secretary of State has asked Monitor to prepare this report for him. Monitor calls this work its Fair Playing Field Review. Monitor has published a discussion paper of its findings so far. Key issues include commissioning and tendering procedures staff terms and conditions taxation access to NHS resources and the regulatory regime. To continue the process Monitor is holding two events in December one in Manchester on the 12th and one in London on the 13th. Those wishing to attend can register here. Those wanting to feed in their views into the Fair Playing Field Review can do so via e-mail to [email protected].