Clause 41 - Standards set by Secretary of State
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
3:30 pm
Mr Simon Burns (West Chelmsford, Conservative)
The amendment seems to copycat the subsequent amendments. The hon. Member for
Oxford, West and Abingdon will have an opportunity to make his points when he speaks to his amendment. I assume that the main thrust of his argument will be similar to mine, because all the amendments seem to dovetail.
The clause is important, because it is all about the Secretary of State setting standards for the NHS. The Government, from the Secretary of State downwards, have said on numerous occasions that they want to take the politicians out of the health service. I suspect that they have copied that philosophy from my hon. Friend the Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox), because the Conservative party also believes that we should take the politicians out of the health service.
It is up to the clinicians and medical practitioners in the health service to run it to the best advantage with the best provision of health care to meet the local needs of local people. That is why I am surprised that despite the rhetoric, the Secretary of State will set the standards and will be given powers to ensure that targets are met through the standards that he will set. My hon. Friends and I believe that CHAI would be the more appropriate body to do that. That would set the NHS free from politicians and from political interference and control, because, under this fundamental part of the Bill, they would have their hand on the tiller.
I hope that the Minister will appreciate the validity of that point, given his comments about CHAI in previous debates. It would kill two birds with one stone. It would help to meet the aims and aspirations of the Minister and his right hon. and hon. Friends in de-politicising the NHS, and would give it a rational, independent body that could set the pace of improvements and standards so that we can continue to make progress and improve the quality of health care that the NHS provides for the citizens of this country.