Report (2nd Day)

Part of Health and Social Care Bill – in the House of Lords at 5:45 pm on 13 February 2012.

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Photo of Baroness Masham of Ilton Baroness Masham of Ilton Crossbench 5:45, 13 February 2012

My Lords, this is a very complex health Bill and I should like to pay tribute to the Minister for all the work that he does-for the meetings that he has and for his letters and explanations.

I feel that patients are not covered enough by this Bill. Patients and their supporters have to fight for everything. Why do they have to fight so much for something that should be good practice? The noble Lord, Lord Ribeiro, said that surgeons and doctors should do this. Why are they not doing it? If you look in today's Yorkshire Post, you will see a tragic case of a woman who lost her baby through negligence in Scarborough Hospital. I have received a letter today from Dr Frank Arnold. I shall quote some of it. It states:

"I am a doctor, who suffered a near fatal adverse event in my local hospital due to errors subsequently accepted as negligent ... Part of the reason that these cases recur is that they are not admitted, reported and learnt from. Similar considerations apply to many other types of repeated serious adverse events and preventable deaths. It took more than two years of struggle against hospital management and NHSLA evasions, denial and delay before my case was settled and I could speak of it in public. After that time, I took part in the discussions at the DoH about duties of candour. These revealed the extent of hostility of the Academy of Royal Colleges, insurers and GMC to any requirement to be honest with patients and the professions".

We need an open and honest system right through primary care and secondary care and even extending to dentists. I have been very lucky. I have had serious accidents and my doctors have always been open and told me the problems, for which I am grateful. However, there are others who do not do so. Generally, the ones who do not do so end up facing legal action. We must do something. We must find a way. I am grateful to the noble Earl but I do not think that it is good enough. It is a case of words and more words.

There is another problem. The other place was not able to discuss these amendments. They did not come up as the other place ran out of time. We have time. If we could get something in the Bill it might not be perfect but at least the other place would have another chance to discuss this. Every Member of Parliament has this problem, I know. Therefore, I would like to test the opinion of the House.