I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
This Bill is all about patients—their care and safety. My commitment to that comes directly out of the findings of the Francis report, particularly the second Francis report, following the public inquiry into the instances of dreadful care at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in my constituency. The work of Cure the NHS, led by Julie Bailey, who challenged that care, and supported by a group of my constituents and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), has brought us to today’s Bill.
Sir Robert Francis, in the letter to the Secretary of State for Health presenting his report, wrote:
“In introducing the first report, I said that it should be patients—not numbers—which counted. That remains my view. The demands for financial control, corporate governance, commissioning and regulatory systems are understandable and in many cases necessary. But it is not the system itself which will ensure that the patient is put first day in and day out. Any system should be capable of caring and delivering an acceptable level of care to each patient treated, but this report shows that this cannot be assumed to be happening.”
The Prime Minister, in his reply to the Francis report, said:
“Quality of care means not accepting that bed sores and hospital infections are somehow occupational hazards—that a little bit of these things is somehow okay. It is not okay; they are unacceptable—full stop, end of story. That is what zero harm—the jargon for this—means.”—[Official Report, 6 February 2013; Vol. 558, c. 281.]
The Prime Minister’s words captured the essence of this issue precisely.
Most of the Francis report recommendations have been accepted, and many have already been implemented. In addition, other very important decisions have been taken by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, such as the appointment of chief inspectors of hospitals, general practice and social care. Those are already having a profound effect on improving the safety and quality of care that patients receive.
Our NHS, using the best medical science and skills, combined with professionalism and compassion, delivers extraordinary repair treatment and healing to the vast majority of its patients. Yet, it can also forget that and cause completely avoidable harm to sick patients. The Bill intends to reduce, and, I hope, eliminate, its ability
to do that. The Bill arises out of a determination to ensure that what happened at Stafford, and indeed elsewhere, should not be repeated. It seeks to ensure that the focus on safety and quality of care we are seeing is not only maintained, but strengthened, and, most importantly, it seeks to ensure that it cannot be reversed. Of course, legislation on its own will not guarantee safe and high-quality care—leadership, culture and resources are all vital elements—but by making it clear in law what is expected of those providing health care, the Bill will go a long way to doing so.
First, the Bill, in clause 1, changes the Secretary of State’s power to a duty, moving from a “may” to a “must”, to ensure that all those providing health and social care make zero avoidable harm their target. Patient safety is therefore put at the top of the list of what must be inspected for. One important way of ensuring that patients receive the safe and high-quality care we would all wish to see is through better integration between services, both health and social care. That is why clauses 2, 3 and 4 seek to give an impetus to integration through the requirement for a single patient identifier and a responsibility to share information. Professional bodies play a vital role in improving safety and quality of care by setting standards.