Clause 2
Health and Social Care Bill
11:45 am
Angela Browning (Deputy Chairman, The Conservative Party; Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)
I would like to speak to new clause 1 because it is important that the Bill sets out the commission’s duties in the same format as the new clause. The interpretation of the commission’s duties should not be left to guidelines or secondary legislation. It is important that the changes with which I think the Minister is presenting us are set out in the Bill, because they will vastly strengthen and improve outcomes for patients and service users.
I support the idea that, as I understand it, the Bill is not just about having an inspectorate that is like a police force, which goes around checking when things are wrong and filling in check-lists—in other words, giving an historical account of what has happened. Of course, if we are to protect patients and service users, it is important that inspections are carried out regularly and have teeth when they find that things are wrong. In tandem with that, however, it is important that we drive up standards, which must be for the benefit of service users. Service users and patients should feel confident not only that there is a combined inspectorate, but that standards and quality are improving as a result of its activities. It is important that that is made clear in the Bill.
There is a second aspect to new clause 1 that has not yet been mentioned. Many of us have dealt with members of staff working in both health and social care who themselves have almost become victims of the failure to drive up standards. Professional staff will appreciate the fact that the Bill defines the real focus of the commission, because that benefits not just patients and service users but those involved in social care and the NHS. That is very important. In an inspectorate, there is always a danger that people will think in silos; in other words, what is required of them is sometimes seen as divorced from some of the issues that we have mentioned in Committee, such as quality of life and protection for patients and service users. Clearly defining the duties of the commission will enhance what the Minister seeks to do in bringing together the inspectorates, so that the CQC is not just a police force but drives up the quality of care for service users.