Clause 6
NHS Redress Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Judy Mallaber (Amber Valley, Labour)
Givenclause 12(2), I cannot understand how the system will work in such a way that the facts are totally distinguished from liability. As one reads it, a report will be produced that will include
“any lessons to be learnt in accordance with section 10(2)(h)”,
which will provide the basis for considering any assessment of liability in tort. I do not see how those elements can be divided in the way set out in the clause. I would like to ask the hon. Member for Billericay exactly what counts as a suitably qualified patient redress investigator. Is it a lawyer or a medically qualified person?
I return to the question of what would make the scheme work. In the tragic case to which I referred this morning of my constituents whose daughter died of meningitis, they immediately went to the papers asking for an inquiry. They did not realise that there was a possibility of having something independent. I have a primary care trust that was desperate to carry out an inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened, because it was critical to do so. We have just had another case of meningitis in the same school, and people have died of it in my constituency, so it is a big issue. The PCT was desperate to investigate and the family were desperate to have an inquiry but they did not know that there was a process for that, and there was a danger of their taking the legal route.
When both sides want the same thing, it is important to give them reassurance and to know that the independent assistance that they could have would help them to set out the facts of their concerns. That is provided for in the Bill. As I understand it, the legal advice provided for in the Bill is about establishing whether any offers that are made are reasonable. Obviously people would want to know that in order to decide whether to adopt their other rights of using the legal process to get a better result, but in this tragic case it would have helped if my constituents had knownthat it was possible to have an inquiry to the benefitof all concerned without immediately getting into defensiveness.