It represented the Labour Party's turn towards private health sector after decades of anti-privatisation rhetoric.

[1] Increasingly, many patients had begun to use private providers for healthcare, and for the 2001 general election, Labour decided that to prevent a 'sleepwaking to a US-style health-care system', patients would be able to access private health care through the NHS.

[2] The plan was described in an opinion piece for the British Medical Journal as "As good as it gets—make the most of it"[3] In November 2000, Alan Milburn signed a concordat with the private sector, a reversal of the dismantling of the marketisation policies under Frank Dobson.

[4] In 2003, provisions of the law abolished community health councils in England, which was controversial among Labour MPs, on the basis that they would be replaced by 'local patient advocacy groups'.

[6] and patient and public involvement forums[7] The guidance for these organisations was delivered to councils in 2003.