Health Bill [HL]

I shall have a go at answering those questions. My own trust runs a very small mother and baby unit. It is interesting that the demand is very limited. For those severely mentally unwell mothers with newly born babies who come into the unit, it is immensely important, partly to get early treatment for the mother and partly to assess her capacity to mother that baby. It is a highly specialised service. However, we do not have a lot of demand coming at us, and I had never thought of private work. Whether we can continue to run a mother and baby unit has become a serious issue for us, because of the limited demand for such a specialist unit, even in east London. I say in answer to the noble Lord’s second question that I am as conscious as he and others of the incredible importance of protecting the NHS—its principles, style and everything that we know and love about it. That is why I have not rushed into saying, "And the future framework should look like this". I have been very careful in agreeing to table this amendment, and in tweaking it a bit, to say, "All we’re saying here is level playing field and no detriment to the NHS". I am assuming, and it is my understanding, that there would be lengthy consultation by the Government on how we achieve those principles. However, if you have clear principles—we have had long discussions in the context of the Mental Health Act about having clear principles in the Bill—it should be possible to adhere to them and to ensure that what the noble Lord and I fear would not occur.