This Library briefing has been prepared ahead of the forthcoming debate on the impact of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 on the current performance of the National Health Service and its future sustainability. It provides a summary of the changes brought in by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, presents statistics on NHS performance and provides information on recent developments in regard to the issue of the NHS’s finances and its sustainability.
Health and Social Care Act 2012: Performance and Sustainability of the NHS (512 KB , PDF)
On 8 September 2016, the House of Lords will debate the motion “that this House takes note of the impact of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 on the current performance of the National Health Service and its future sustainability”.
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 received royal assent on 27 March 2012, with many of its provisions coming into force on 1 April 2013. It introduced significant structural changes to the NHS, including the establishment of clinical commissioning groups, replacing the previous primary care trusts.
Since the passage of the Act, the NHS has continued to see increasing demand in a challenging economic environment. NHS Improvement—a body established on 1 April 2016 by bringing together existing organisations including Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority—has stated that:
Sustained operational and financial challenges continued to affect adversely the performance of the NHS provider sector in 2015/16. Providers faced record high demand and increased cost pressures. Throughout the year, providers worked hard to improve services for patients, reduce costs and maximise resources. Despite these efforts, the sector as a whole continued to underperform against a number of national healthcare standards, and the year-end deficit was almost three times larger than position reported in 2014/15.
On 16 December 2015, the Government established the Sustainability and Transformation Fund (STF), providing £1.8 billion to “help challenged hospitals to achieve financial balance while focusing on changing the way they provide high quality care for patients”.
Health and Social Care Act 2012: Performance and Sustainability of the NHS (512 KB , PDF)
In 2024, the House of Lords established a committee to consider the prevention and consequences of preterm birth in England. This briefing provides a summary of the House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee findings, reactions to its report, and the government’s response, ahead of a debate in the House of Lords on 6 June 2025.
The House of Lords is due to discuss NHS staff access to single-sex spaces on 1 May 2025. Following a recent Supreme Court judgment about the meaning of the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on 25 April 2025 about the implications of this for workplaces and services provided to the public.
In England, the NHS provides prosthetics where suitable for people who have had a limb amputation. However, concerns have been raised about how quickly individuals can access multifunctional limbs. Also, while high-performance sports prosthetics are available for children, some campaigners are calling for adults to be able to access them from the NHS.
