Clause 5 - Acts in connection with care or treatment
Mental Capacity Bill
3:15 pm
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Tottenham, Labour)
I begin by telling hon. Members that the Royal College of Nursing said that it warmly welcomed the introduction of this Bill, which would enable many people to make decisions for themselves and provide protection for vulnerable adults.
I must deal squarely with much that has been said. We put best interests at the heart of the Bill and we have had much discussion about them. In talking about the clause and the amendments, it is important to say that the clause does not change the law on negligence. It does not affect liability for a failure to provide treatment. Instead, the clause provides a defence, as I thought I made clear earlier. The provision is not a blanket authority to act, and certainly not an authority to act in a way that none of us would consider desirable. Before a person acts, it is important that they establish whether the other person has capacity and, when acting, take reasonable
steps in that person's best interests. A doctor who withheld artificial hydration and nutrition, for example, causing death when he had a duty of care that required him to provide those things, would be liable for gross negligence manslaughter. The proposed additions to the clause would not strengthen or change that fact in any way.
On Tuesday, the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton on Tuesday said a great deal about the treatment of the elderly in our NHS. I said nothing about that this morning, but we have heard much said again this afternoon. The NHS employs 1.3 million people, most of them providing wonderful care every day throughout the country. Anyone going to the Greenfields ward in St. Anne's hospital in my constituency will see elderly people being cared for in remarkable ways. It is unacceptable to suggest that the elderly people of this country should be worried. Survey results show that 91 per cent. of people who experience care and treatment in the NHS are satisfied with it.
The Bill is not partisan, but it is important to make the point that the Labour Government introduced the national service framework for older people, for the first time setting high common standards in this country. In fact, elderly people are now getting better care in the NHS. It is important that we have this debate in that context.