Clause 9
NHS Redress Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
John Pugh (Shadow Minister, Health; Southport, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 22, in clause 9, page 5, line 27, at end add—
‘(5) In making arrangements under this section, the Secretary of State must have regard to the principle that the persons providing services under subsection (1) should be able to demonstrate an appropriate level of expertise and experience in the provision of medico-legal advice in clinical negligence matters.'.
This is a probing amendment along the same lines as amendment No. 23. We are assuming that patients will be adequately, thoroughly and effectively advised so that the system can work as well as possible. The amendment would ensure that a provider of assistance and advice has expertise and experience.
In the statement of policy, assistance for those seeking redress is described as being provided through
“Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) and Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) type arrangements.”
Both of those organisations are commendable, and the people involved with them are doing worthwhile work, but neither is appropriate for empowering a patient to influence the outcome of an investigation that has to pass something legalistic such as the Bolam test. Patient advice and liaison services are not genuinely independent, being part of the customer care arrangements in the NHS, and ICAS is designed to help patients navigate the complaints procedure. Neither seems to fit the bill for the provision of complex advice in difficult circumstances, and they could not do so without changing radically their purpose, nature and set-up. That would be true even if the Government were to leave them alone for any length of time, which they rarely do, often being minded to abolish or change them or create different organisations in their place. The amendment would ensure that the advice available to individuals was appropriate and came from qualified people. I cannot see any fundamental objection to that, but other hon. Members might.