Clause 14 - Code of practice: effects on existing functions of Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection
Health Bill
9:45 am
Jane Kennedy (Minister of State, Department of Health; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)
We will come shortly to the new power to issue improvement notices that we will give the Healthcare Commission. The clause gives the commission the duty to take account of the code, precisely as the hon. Gentleman suggests, when conducting any review or investigation of health care under the powers of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003.
Observance of the good practice set out in the code will clearly be critical to achieving a real improvement in infection prevention and control. If NHS bodies are trying and failing to achieve what the code requires of them, it is essential that that is known, and the body that will know it is the Healthcare Commission. When failings occur, it can inform the trust and—we will discuss this shortly—where necessary, the Secretary of State.
The clause requires the Healthcare Commission to take into account observance of the code when awarding performance ratings for NHS bodies. That puts infection prevention and control at the heart of this important measure. The power to advise the Secretary of State is a sensible and necessary measure. It ensures that the Healthcare Commission will review the observance of the code at the front line; it can use its knowledge of how the code of practice is being observed to advise on how the code itself can be improved. The power will provide an additional mechanism to help bring about improvements in the code and, through that, improvement in the quality of infection prevention and control.
I am assured by the Healthcare Commission that it will be able to make reviewing the observance of the code part of the assessment process that it already conducts. That means that the additional burden on the commission about which the hon. Gentleman is concerned should be kept to a minimum. He will have seen that the regulatory impact assessment that accompanies the Bill included a broad estimate based on information supplied by the Healthcare Commission. As with all publicly funded bodies, the Healthcare Commission is under a duty to perform its functions as efficiently as possible. I am satisfied that it has the resources that it needs to undertake the extra work that we are asking it to do, although we expect that costs will initially be at the higher end of the range given in the regulatory impact assessment.
Obviously, it will take time for the best practice outlined in the code to become firmly embedded throughout the NHS. There will be early costs, but they will be minimal. I am confident that the Healthcare Commission has the resources that it needs. On that basis, I hope that the Committee will agree that clause 14 should stand part of the Bill.