Health and Care Act 2022 (England) gains Royal Assent

Health and Care Act 2022 (England) gains Royal Assent

The Health and Care Bill has now received Royal Assent, making it the Health and Care Act 2022. Although many changes in the Act are already under way, the new law confirms:

• NHS England will be the national body overseeing the NHS, with Monitor (NHS Improvement) dissolved and having no role
• Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will formally be replaced with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) over the coming year
• Existing procurement regulations will be replaced with a new Provider Selection Regime (PSR).

For primary eye care:

• There is no change to GOS. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England have already confirmed that GOS will remain a national demand-led service under a nationally agreed GOS contract and nationally negotiated fees and grants, with no local variation
• ICBs will be responsible for commissioning enhanced eye care services at a local level in line with new PSR. This should bring opportunities to commission extended eye care services at scale as ICBs cover populations of 1 million people or more.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The Health and Care Act is the most significant change to the healthcare system in a decade”. He hoped “the Act would help and will put [the NHS and care systems] in the strongest possible position to rebuild from the pandemic”.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said the Act would help “accelerate the changes set out in the NHS Long Term Plan that are already giving people a greater choice, better support and more joined-up care when they need it”.