I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on our national health service. I resolutely believe that we should have an open and honest debate on how we can each contribute to restoring faith in the national health service, and that we should not play politics with the findings of the Francis report.
Increasingly, there is a deeply concerning creeping veil of secrecy across the public sector—local government, education or health. The application of greater accountability and transparency is the solution, ensuring that the interests of the public remain the singular and overriding number one priority in public service delivery. As a society, we display a huge and deep faith that the NHS is intrinsically good, and we want unquestioningly to believe that at all times it is acting in our best interests. The findings of the Francis report, as they should, shake that faith and belief in the NHS to its very core. Francis should be commended for his report—an extensive and comprehensive forensic examination of Mid Staffs and the structure of the NHS.
I will be as brief as I can and focus on one tiny element: listening to patients, the people who pay for the NHS, and hearing what they are saying and acting on it. We do not need to keep on looking for a black cat in a dark room. Switch the light on! It is no good the Secretary of State simply repeating that we must listen to patients and their families. What assurance does he have that, until the next crisis, they are listening? In hearing after hearing of the Health Committee, senior people associated with the NHS trot out that the regulator is responsible and that the Care Quality Commission needs to deal with it. I never, ever thought I would feel sorry for the CQC, but, when everyone else ducks, it is supposed to catch the ball. We do not need to create another bureaucracy; we simply have to make work—really work—something we already have by giving it real teeth and enough resources to make it effective.
I agree with the comments of Dame Julie Mellor, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, when she said that she hoped that the Francis report
“will trigger a debate that will support our view that good complaint handling should be at the heart of the NHS.”
From front-line experience, I believe that to be both true and essential. During my time as chair of Liverpool Women’s hospital, a standing agenda item at the public monthly board meetings was a summary of all complaints received that provided an overview—not in minute detail, but an overview—of each complaint and the outcome: upheld or not upheld. Most importantly, there was a column that stated what action was taken. Employing this system of regular review ensured that the board had oversight, asked questions, could spot trends, be assured that action was taken and demonstrate to patients and their families that they were being listened to.