Clause 29
Health and Social Care Bill
10:00 am
Ben Bradshaw (Minister of State (Health Services; Minister for the South West), Department of Health; Exeter, Labour)
With your indulgence, Mr. Conway, I will respond briefly to a question that was asked earlier by the hon. Gentleman, to save time and to avoid the danger that I may forget to do so. In fact, he asked two specific questions: first, why this particular tribunal? The Care Standards Tribunal currently hears cases under the Care Standards Act 2000, so we are using that for continuity purposes. Secondly, he asked for the specific figures on outstanding complaints with the Healthcare Commission. In July 2006, the number of open cases was 5,180. In July 2007 it had gone down to 2,298, and I understand that the commission is now meeting its service level agreement targets on complaints. I hope that is helpful to the hon. Gentleman.
On sanctions, I was slightly puzzled by that bit of Anna Walker’s evidence. On the one hand, she seemed to imply that the new enforcement powers were not needed; then, in the quotation given by the hon. Gentleman, there was also an implication that the fines were not heavy enough. I am not clear on the matter, but I hope to discuss it informally with her, which might enable me to reach a better understanding.
The £50,000 figure is a ten-fold increase on the status quo, and it is for a single offence, so there is the potential for multiples of £50,000. It is not that the maximum fine that could be levied against a hospital is £50,000—if there is more than one breach of the regulations, that figure could multiply. As was acknowledged earlier, the Healthcare Commission is not the only organisation that has a locus in monitoring patient safety; there is also the Health and Safety Executive and the criminal law. The hon. Gentleman was right to remind us that criminal investigations are still going on in relation to the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells incident. That does not mean that hospitals or managers will never be liable for much more serious offences. However, we think that we have come up with a tougher but proportionate suite of penalties and sanctions that suit the role of the Healthcare Commission, that are flexible and that the commission is not forced to use. That should also act as a useful deterrent, because of the damage to reputation that would be incurred by one of those fines or penalties. In light of those assurances, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will withdraw his amendment.