Schedule 5
Health Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; North Warwickshire, Labour)
In trying to get to the facts in a case, there is obviously a requirement to get the relevant information. Where an ombudsman is concerned, it is always difficult for them to collate and obtain the information that they need. Some people may say that they just will not co-operate with the ombudsman and that remains an issue for us. I just want to warn the hon. Gentleman about that, because these provisions are not panaceas. They are ways of helping, instruments that are available to those who are badly done by, and we need to ensure that they are in place where they are needed. However, let us not pretend that they will solve all the problems or that they will be able to do more than they can.
There is also the point about an individual’s liability versus the liability of a home or a company. Let me say that an ombudsman can report, but whether compensation is paid or what the final outcome of a case will be is all a matter of law and there is also the question of whether there will be co-operation with the ombudsman.
These are complex issues and I just wanted to put on record the fact that there are a number of caveats, so that it is clear that I am not claiming that these provisions will provide all the guarantees that we might like to provide. They will provide a tool to ensure that complaints can be dealt with more effectively and to ensure that people have somewhere to go and some prospect of getting a remedy.