Clause 14 - Authorised services
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
11:30 am
Mr Stephen Pound (Ealing North, Labour)
That is a powerful case for my amendment. There are internal audit trails in the NHS for private care within NHS facilities and for shared pieces of equipment, be they the CAT scanners of my time or the MRI scanners of today.
We need to have a methodology that clearly and transparently identifies that joint usage—not for any party-political purpose, but so that future needs, based on the usage of this very expensive equipment, can be identified. We need to be absolutely sure that we are getting the maximum benefit from the equipment. Transparency will, ultimately, reassure those of us who do not want to see creeping privatisation in the NHS, and it will show that such privatisation is not the purpose of the Bill.
My right hon. Friend the Minister's comments reassure me. If he confirms his earlier reference to the Treasury rules contained later in the Bill, I will not press the amendments.