Clause 26 - Suspension and disqualification of practitioners
Health and Social Care Bill
5:30 pm
Mr John Denham (Minister of State, Department of Health; Southampton, Itchen, Labour)
I listened with care to what the hon. Member for Isle of Wight said and to the questions he asked, but I thought that his amendment was about something entirely different. I shall deal with my interpretation of what it would do, and I shall briefly talk about the question that he has raised, which will save us dealing with it in the stand part debate.
The issue that I thought we were dealing with is that of notification of health authority decisions to remove and suspend practitioners from their main list. It is obviously important, in the system that we are setting up, that robust mechanisms are in place to inform all health authorities of the removal or suspension of practitioners, so that people cannot be moved from one list simply to re-enter the NHS in another part of the country without anyone knowing anything about it.
We intend to put in place a comprehensive alert letter system ensuring that health authorities, regulatory bodies and the Department of Health are fully appraised of the removal and suspension of primary care practitioners. We also intend—and this is what I understood to be the import of the amendment—to introduce regulations to underpin an alert letter system. The provision in amendment No. 159 will go further than that proposed in amendment No. 32 in ensuring that all relevant bodies are properly informed of these key decisions.
The hon. Gentleman raised an important issue, which we may be able to debate at greater length on stand part. Provision will be made to protect the financial position of a suspended principal or a member--for example a GP--of the practice. We will also need to make provision for locums who are under suspension, which will require a different route to be constructed because clearly they are not directly on a payroll—if I can use that expression.
The importance of appropriately protecting the financial position of somebody who has been suspended has been recognised, and I can reassure the hon. Gentleman on that point. I am sure that these amendments are not the place to discuss the matter in detail.