Clause 20
Health and Social Care Bill
9:30 am
Stephen O'Brien (Shadow Minister, Health; Eddisbury, Conservative)
New clause 2 seeks to establish a service user panel, and amendment No. 76 is consequent on that, making sure that the CQC consults such a panel in formulating guidance under clause 19. Naturally, that builds on the discussions that the Committee has already had on service user involvement under clause 2 and amendments Nos. 2 and 134. The Committee can refer back to the points that were made in column 146 and following, rather than me restating them into the record. I hope that that is a helpful reference. I highlight again that, in response to the consultation preceding this Bill, the Department stated that
“many responses supported the greater input from patients and users of services proposed in the consultation document... The Care Quality Commission will be a user focused organisation”—
and I emphasise—
“recognising that it can only do this effectively by involving them.”
Which? notes in its submission:
“It is a startling omission that the new body charged with overseeing the quality of health and social care will not have a duty to take patients’ views into account in the course of their work.”
Again, I would encourage the Minister to heed the Conservative party’s commitment to Healthwatch, a national consumer voice for patients and service users.
The service user panel can provide a high-level mechanism by which the commission can receive advice from service users. Plans, processes and methodologies that are relevant to the quality of care, the experience of service users and the successful engagement of service users generally can be developed in co-operation with an expert group on such matters. Patients and service users will be reassured that there is a voice for their interests at a high level. Moreover, the panel can seek wider views as required, which will further build confidence in the regulator.
Ofcom has a consumer panel that plays a similar role, and it convenes a regular consumer forum of interested parties such as consumer and disability organisations. The Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator, under clauses 101 and 102, and the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, under clause 108(4), are both given duties to consult the public, including bodies that seem to them to represent the views of patients; there is no such duty for the commission. The service user panel can at least act as a proxy for such wider consultation.
The Minister made clear in an earlier debate that the Department expects the CQC to establish, under schedule 1, paragraph 6, a panel similar to that proposed in the amendment. That will give the commission the duty to establish at least one advisory panel. No doubt, that commitment will be used to call the CQC and the Minister to account when the CQC begins operating.
The Minister noted that he was still reflecting on the issue, and he undertook to come back to the Committee with clearer thinking on the subject. We hope that he will include Local Involvement Networks in the Bill—I am sure that the Committee remembers that discussion—and consultation with patients and service users.
Does the Minister agree that the voice of patients and service users is key to generating effective guidance on compliance with requirements? Does he agree that the new clause and amendment No. 76 would give him the precise vehicle that he seeks, and that he will therefore be minded to accept them?