Health Bill

I shall first declare an interest—I am a lay member of the General Medical Council. I have been very conscious in recent years of the events surrounding the deeds of Dr. Harold Shipman, so I want to start by commenting on the measures in the Bill that go some way to redress some of the issues that were found when the Shipman inquiry reported in July 2004 about the regulation of controlled drugs in the community. The case of Harold Shipman was a very dark chapter in the history of doctors in this country. The fact that he was able to obtain such large quantities of controlled drugs, and the failure of the system to detect his inappropriate use of those drugs over many years, had to be not just found, but corrected if we are to ensure that, hopefully, it never happens again. Dame Janet Smith identified serious weaknesses in the system of regulation of controlled drugs and highlighted the need to introduce a number of changes to strengthen the system, while accepting—as I think we all must—that no system can be totally immune from fraud. I congratulate the Government on clause 16, which relates to the appointment of accountable officers and provides details of their responsibilities. I understand that those new senior executive posts were proposed in Dame Janet’s fourth report, although the report uses the term ““proper officer”” rather than ““accountable officer””. Under clause 16, accountable officers will have overall responsibility for the management and use of controlled drugs in such organisations, as well as the arrangements for the audit, inspection and training of staff who work with controlled drugs, thereby ensuring better patient safety than in the past.