Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, during our earlier deliberations I had a great deal of sympathy with the position put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours. My name is on the amendment and the reason for that is very simple. We could debate how foundation trusts operate in great detail and at considerable length—as we did during the passage of the legislation to which the noble Lord, Lord Warner, has just referred—but, ultimately, proposed new subsection (4A) contains the key point, that any private-patient work must be in the interests of the NHS. However long we continue to debate this issue in great detail, I am persuaded that that is the critical point, and the fact that we have agreement across the House on it is important. Another important point is the arbitrary nature of the way in which the cap is working and the problems that it creates for mental health trusts in particular. Those two factors alone were sufficient to convince me that this is a move forward in the right direction.