Schedule 1 - Constitution of public benefit corporations
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
9:30 am
Ms Hazel Blears (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (public health), Department of Health; Salford, Labour)
I shall try to clarify whether that would apply, and I shall try to respond as quickly as possible on the matter.
The hon. Members for Westbury and for Oxford, West and Abingdon raised the matter of doctors who have a series of six-month contracts. The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon asked whether an overarching contract with a single NHS organisation might be a way forward. I am prepared to consider whether that can be done. However, if people are on a series of short-term contracts, that brings me back to my original point; we are trying to create the sense of an organisation in which people have a long-term stake. Those people will be active members, involved in electing the board of governors, setting forward policy and examining the achievements of the trust.
We want to ensure that people on the public constituency side and on the staff constituency side have the same degree of commitment and long-term involvement with this organisation that will be needed to drive standards for patients.