Clause 40 - Quality in health care
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
3:30 pm
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Health; Tottenham, Labour)
The hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) has more or less made the points that I wanted to make. The intentions of the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon are honourable, and the Committee would agree with them, but the word ''wellbeing'' would add nothing to the duty of quality under clause 40. That amends the current duty of quality in section 18 of the Health Act 1999 to include a duty on all NHS bodies to ensure that appropriate arrangements are put in place to monitor and improve the quality of health care that they provide or obtain. Clause 118 allows CHAI and CSCI to assist any other public body in its work, which would include the Health Protection Agency.
I commend the intention behind the amendment, but for the reasons that I and, indeed, the hon. Member for West Chelmsford have outlined, I hope that the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon will see fit to withdraw it.