NHS England response to Monitor’s Fair Playing Field Review recommendations

NHS England response to Monitor’s Fair Playing Field Review recommendations In 2012 the Secretary of State asked Monitor to undertake an independent review of matters that may be affecting the ability of different providers of NHS services to participate fully in improving patient care.

NHS England worked closely with Monitor as they undertook their review. In March 2013 Monitor published their findings with recommendations to government and the health system. They also asked for our comments on their recommendations.

We welcomed Monitor’s invitation to comment on the recommendations contained in the Fair Playing Field Review. In common with Monitor’s Review, above all else NHS England’s focus is on the interests of patients. Our goal is high quality care for all, now and for future generations, informed by the values of the NHS Constitution. This is reflected in our response to the Review’s recommendations.

NHS England recognises the importance of Monitor’s Fair Playing Field Review in seeking to address distortions in the current system that may be preventing the provider best able to meet patients’ needs from doing so. We are working with Monitor to implement the recommendations, guided by thejoint statement that NHS England and Monitor published earlier this year on the use of choice and competition in the NHS, and by our wider strategy. We are keen to ensure that any action that NHS England, Monitor and the Department of Health take improves the way in which the system operates in the interests of patients. We look forward to working closely with Monitor and DH, and others in the system, to this end.

More details on the Review and its recommendations are available on the Fair Playing Field Review pages on Monitor’s website.

NHS Commissioning Board