The Liberal Democrats have urged Andy Burnham to halt Health Bill changes, warning they could lead to a “bonfire of patient safety”.
Healthwatch England, an independent body representing patients’ views at their local health and social care providers, is set to be scrapped under the NHS Modernisation Bill.
The Health Service Safety Investigation Bureau, or HSSIB, which carries out patient safety investigations, is also being abolished.
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan described the proposals as “a catastrophic step backwards” and the “greatest backward step in patient safety in a generation”.
“Andy Burnham must urgently put an end to this, and fix the Health Bill so that modernising the NHS doesn’t come at the expense of accountability, transparency or patient safety,” Morgan added.
The government says the changes will reduce bureaucracy and improve patient safety.
The Liberal Democrats have warned the plans risk another Stafford Hospital scandal, where years of abuse and neglect led to hundreds of unnecessary patient deaths.
A Healthcare Commission report found the scandal, one of the biggest in NHS history, involved at least 400 more deaths than expected between 2005 and 2008.
Under the government proposals, Healthwatch’s responsibilities will be transferred to integrated care boards, or ICBs, and local authorities.
The Liberal Democrats argue this would mean organisations have to respond to feedback about their own services rather than face scrutiny from an independent body.
Separately, HSSIB’s functions will be transferred to the government-run Care Quality Commission, or CQC.
The Liberal Democrats say this raises concerns that there is no guarantee staff who report safety issues will be given anonymity.
Other measures include abolishing NHS England in a move to centralise the running of health and social care services under the Department of Health and Social Care.
The government says this will reduce bureaucracy and allow more resources to be directed towards frontline healthcare services.
The NHS Modernisation Bill is currently at report stage and is due for a third reading on 7 September.
Speaking about NHS reform in January, then-health secretary Wes Streeting said: “there are many decent people working at Healthwatch who care, but the job of listening to patients can’t be farmed out to an arm’s length body”.
“It must be core business for the NHS. That is why we’re taking it back in-house and I won’t back down on that either.”
The Liberal Democrats also said the current bill removes the duty for the NHS to cooperate with the Care Quality Commission in providing key safety data and removes automatic “safe space” protections for whistleblowers.
Amendments tabled by the Liberal Democrats would cancel the changes, with the party “urging the new Burnham administration to adopt them”.
The party has vowed to robustly fight the government in the House of Lords, where Labour does not have a majority.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the NHS Modernisation Bill “explicitly preserves safe space provisions and staff will continue to be protected”.
“The reforms we are introducing will give patients a stronger, clearer voice at the heart of health and social care.”
Burnham was health secretary in 2009 when the Healthcare Commission’s report into the Stafford Hospital scandal was published. He then launched an independent inquiry in 2010.
In May, the Local Government Association told the BBC that disbanding Healthwatch would be a “significant step back” in accountability.
“Without an independent, locally rooted voice to challenge and represent communities, there is a risk of duplication and gaps in accountability,” the LGA said.
There are currently more than 150 local Healthwatch organisations in England.
