NHS Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. *12:"Page 2, line 26, at end insert ““and a report on action being taken to reduce the risk of similar errors being repeated””" The noble Earl said: My Lords, in moving this amendment, I return to an issue that I raised in Grand Committee—that of lessons learnt. We have already spoken about the need for an aggrieved patient to receive an explanation and, where appropriate, an apology, but there is a third thing most patients want when they seek redress: a clear sense, when the investigation is complete, that appropriate lessons have been learnt, to prevent similar mistakes from happening to other people. The Government’s Amendment No. 36 is welcome. It speaks of the requirement for members of the scheme to publish an annual report about cases brought under the redress scheme and the lessons to be learnt from them. I am not sure that goes quite far enough, however. Receiving an annual report with cases anonymised is not quite the same thing as being presented with an action plan flowing from your own particular case, in which, let us say, the chief executive of a trust or the head of a clinical department writes you a personal letter setting out exactly what has been or is being done to improve procedures, training or whatever is necessary, in response to the facts uncovered by the investigation of your case. When genuine lessons have been taken on board by the hospital, that is what the patient will want and should have, whenever it is appropriate and relevant. I hope therefore that the Minister will not dismiss my amendment, which attempts to address a central issue for patients in such circumstances. I beg to move.