Accountability and Transparency in the NHS

Part of Justice Committee Report: Youth Justice – in the House of Commons at 4:53 pm on 14 March 2013.

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Photo of Charlotte Leslie Charlotte Leslie Conservative, Bristol North West 4:53, 14 March 2013

This has been an excellent debate. I thank the Secretary of State, who has been here for the duration of the debate—as indeed has the shadow Secretary of State. I think there can be general agreement that there has been a catastrophic failure of leadership. That was well and forensically expressed by my hon. Friend Stephen Barclay. It is worth nothing that although there may have been instances—there certainly have been—of clinical failures, it is only possible to hold to account those managers who have a medical qualification registered with the General Medical Council.

We had a blast of reality from the moving and extraordinarily memorable speech by Ann Clwyd. I thank her, and the people who wrote to her, for sharing their tragic stories. We had powerful and thoughtful speeches from Members involved in the Mid Staffs tragedy, including my hon. Friends the Members for Cannock Chase (Mr Burley), for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) and for Stone (Mr Cash). The debate benefited from the experience of Members who have worked directly in the NHS, including my hon. Friends the Members for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) and for Bracknell (Dr Lee), and from the political experience of those such as Frank Dobson. I thank everybody for their contributions.

This has been an important debate, in that it has finally provided a voice for many people who have been kept silent for so long. Another lesson that we can draw from it is that it is not systems but people who care in our health service. We can take away from the debate the many mechanisms of accountability and transparency that have been suggested, as well as suggestions of how we can nurture the professionalism and the best instincts of those who work in our NHS. Let that be a mission for all of us. We must also really ensure—perhaps in contrast to what has been done before—that patients are at the very heart of what the NHS is all about.

The debate has been enormously important, and I hope that it marks the beginning of a consensus and of a cross-party drive to ensure that the scandals and tragedies that we have seen throughout our health system never occur again. I also hope that this marks the forming of a platform for the many people out there who do not have the benefit of parliamentary privilege. It is our duty to ensure that their silence—in many cases, a deadly silence—is ended by this debate and that a new era of transparency and accountability, which should be seen in by a new set of personnel in our NHS, begins here.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House believes that in the wake of the Francis Report it is clear that accountability and transparency are of paramount importance to patient safety and trust in the NHS; and further believes that across the NHS individuals found to have breached those principles should face the appropriate consequences.