Clause 59 - Control of patient information
Health and Social Care Bill
10:45 am
Mr Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam, Liberal Democrat)
Amendments Nos. 331 and 333—and my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight and I are grateful to the BMA for its work on them—are intended to deal with a serious issue, and to enable the Committee to explore why the clause should be so widely drawn. A reason that has been advanced for its general approach is the facilitation of the production of cancer registries. The explanatory notes refer to the GMC guidance, which, it is implied, casts doubt on the potential for sharing relevant information for that purpose.
We were anxious, in preparing the amendments, to establish clearly a set of procedures that would deal not just with cancer registries, but with any disease registries that already exist or might be needed in future. We wanted the Bill to include procedures enabling the conditions or diseases in question to be prescribed, and the compilation process to be specified in regulations, subject to consultation.
As the hon. Member for Woodspring said, the origins of the clause can be found in United States law. We are not approaching the problem from thin air, but attempting to construct workable law. Our proposal is demonstrably practicable because it is in use in America. I hope that the Minister will accept a route that clarifies the Bill and establishes a clear mechanism for achieving what Committee members on both sides would want—the acceptance that it is appropriate, in the context of disease registries, for information to be made available, with safeguards. I look forward to hearing why a general power to allow that is preferable to the specific powers that the amendments would permit.