and there was nothing to suggest that "political micro-management" and "excessive bureaucratic and political control" had disappeared. however, he said the act had given the nhs an independent voice, and that according to jeremy hunt "the independence of nhs england is the bit that has worked best". david benbow argued in 2020 that the legislation did not extend patient choice as envisaged (as this policy subsequently took a backseat) but that it did lead to an increasing amount of the nhs budget being diverted to private providers. the publication of the nhs long term plan in january 2019 marked the official abandonment of the policy of competition in the english nhs. integrated care systems would be created across england by 2021, and in 2022 clinical commissioning groups were abolished and nhs improvement absorbed into nhs england, though all this was intended to happen without repealing the legislation. in february 2019, nhs england produced a document outlining changes it wanted to see in legislation. one of the central proposals was to remove the obligation to put services out to competitive tender if local commissioners considered a service would be best provided from within the nhs.