Clause 41 - Standards set by Secretary of State
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Jon Owen Jones (Cardiff Central, Labour/Co-operative)
I am afraid that I will disappoint the Under-Secretary because I have some sympathy with the arguments. It is clear that the United Kingdom already has four effective regions with different health policies and standards. However, when the health inspection process was first mooted—I raised the matter on the Floor of the House—I understood that it would be a joint process, at least in England and Wales, and I do not see why that should not extend to Scotland, as well. It should be a joint process because the organisation will demand a great deal of expertise and bureaucracy, and it would not be sensible to duplicate in different areas. It should be a joint process also because all those who want improvements in health care throughout the UK want the greatest possible degree of comparability. We could then learn from one another's best practices and, perhaps, from one another's worst practices. I had understood that CHAI would be a joint body.
The clause gives the Welsh Assembly and the Secretary of State the power to set their own standards, but I am not sure why that means that the inspections should be carried out separately. It
would be ridiculous to have two different sets of inspections for hospitals catering for large numbers of patients on both sides of the border. It would also be difficult to justify applying two different sets of standards. In answer to a question on the Floor of the House yesterday, the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton), stated that the number of Welsh patients seeking treatment in English hospitals had increased from 26,000 in 2001 to 37,000 in 2003. As an increasing number of Welsh patients are being treated in English hospitals, there is an increasing need to apply similar standards. Even if slightly different standards are to apply, the same inspection
regime should at least operate on both sides of the border.
I would therefore be grateful if the Under-Secretary could clarify how the system will work. I hope that he can reassure me that the inspection system will give patients from Wales the same degree of protection as patients in England.
Debate adjourned.—[Jim Fitzpatrick.]
Adjourned accordingly at eighteen minutes to Five o'clock till Thursday 5 June at five minutes to Nine o'clock.