Clause 7 - Functions of Overview and Scrutiny Committees
Health and Social Care Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat)
Welcome to the Chair of this Standing Committee, Sir David. We are having very interesting deliberations. I want briefly to address this group of amendments, which deals with two related issues. The first is independent advocacy, which we spent some time discussing in the broader debate that we had this morning. We now come to the more specific details of how we are to secure that independent advocacy. The second is the further examination of the proposals for the patient advocacy and liaison services staff, which are not in the Bill but were referred to in the Government's explanatory notes.
Amendments Nos. 44 and 237 deal with the question of advocacy and would enshrine in the Bill the Government's commitment to providing the funds and the necessary regulations to ensure that independent advocacy services are established. They would also provide that whoever is responsible for funding those services--the pay and the rations--be it a local authority or a health authority or some other potential commissioner of these services, it is able to ensure that the advocacy service can operate effectively on behalf of patients. It should ensure that any NHS body it deals with understands that it should signpost patients to the advocacy service when that is appropriate, and should set out when that would be appropriate so that there is no doubt about that. It should also ensure that the various agencies within the trusts are willing and able to co-operate with the advocacy service.
New clause 5 also deals with the role of patient advocacy and liaison services. Even at this late stage, we should reconsider the name of these services, especially as the Government have not been persuaded of the merits of including in the Bill provisions governing the operation of this particular function within trusts. This morning we were told that many people in hospital who want to complain are not aware of the existence of community health councils. I fear that confusion will be sown by calling it an advocacy service, because, on any standard definition of that role, the post will not actually operate as an advocate. We are in danger of causing confusion. This is not merely a point of semantics. People will be confused when they consider the range of bodies that they are asked to deal with when they have problems with the NHS. We need to be careful about the language we use so that we minimise that confusion. I hope the Minister will comment on that, because we currently have two bodies that use the term advocacy in very different ways.
New clause 5 seeks clarity on the boundaries between PALS, the independent advocates and the patients forums. It would enable the Secretary of State to use regulation-making powers, and would at the very least allow further scrutiny, through secondary legislation, of the details of how PALS will be rolled out and operated on the ground. That is why we tabled these amendments. We do not want to diminish the value of such services within trusts—that has not been our argument—but this important role should have a statutory basis. That is what new clause 5 asks for, but if the Government cannot accept the amendments, I hope that they will be willing to table similar amendments.
How soon will the Government make proposals on advocacy services to guarantee that they are secured? How do they intend to secure the funding arrangements? Will there be new funds? Are funds already included in the comprehensive spending review, or will additional moneys be made available to fund the development of a comprehensive network of advocacy services? On the face of it, the comprehensive spending review does not contain the wherewithal to fund that significant expansion throughout the country.
I look forward to the Minister's response, and I hope that it will be positive.