New Clause 22
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Charles Walker (Broxbourne, Conservative)
Thank you, Mr. Cook, for calling me to make a brief contribution. I am in a difficult position in following such an excellent speech by my hon. Friend, who made some important points about people’s right to apply to move to different hospitals. I am aware that the Government are looking to replace beds with greater community services, which may mean that the distance between areas or hospitals with beds will grow.
In a place with fewer beds, most might be occupied, creating a greater need to move people to a more far-flung location to give them the emergency treatment that they need. It is important, as with all illness, to have emotional and family support. If we must move people far from their homes to receive treatment in an emergency because a hospital more convenient to them and their family is full, we should consider at the earliest opportunity whether they wish to move back to a bed nearer to their family and friends, if that is in their interests, so that they can derive support from them.
It is also important that the convenience of clinicians should take second place to the patient’s interests. It might be more convenient for a clinician to put someone in a bed in a certain location, but if it is in the patient’s interests to be moved, we should be sensitive to their wishes. It therefore gives me great pleasure to support made by my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East.