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Angela Smith (Basildon): I am pleased to speak in the debate and to be a sponsor of the Bill. It is traditional to congratulate a Member on drawing a number high up in the ballot, but I confess that I have never understood that parliamentary convention. Drawing a high number is a matter of luck, but a Member deserves great credit for his choice of Bill and we should congratulate the right hon. Member for Wealden (Sir G. Johnson-Smith) on introducing a measure that would benefit a number of people. This Bill is about empowering consumers and patients and giving them confidence.
If Members from all parties outlined their reasons for standing for election, they would all say that justice, fairness and giving confidence were first among them. Those three tenets are our reasons for becoming Members of Parliament. Today's debate is about accountability, and it continues our discussion on restoring or maintaining faith in public servants--a category into which we ourselves fall--in respect of a number of issues. We should consider the Bill--which is moderate and sensible--in that context.
My view is that the system contains a number of deficiencies in relation to complaints and accountability. Although the Bill cannot possibly address them all, limiting what it sets out to achieve will make it far more successful. It targets an important specific area: ensuring that a general practitioner's retirement from the national health service does not prevent the health service ombudsman from carrying out a full investigation of a complaint. Patients visiting a doctor or a dentist must have faith that they will receive the best possible treatment. If they receive the wrong treatment or are treated unacceptably--or merely think that they have been treated unacceptably--they must know that they have recourse to a fair and just complaints system. No one in any profession should be able to duck their responsibilities by retiring or transferring to the private sector.
That debate takes place in a number of public services--the police being a prime example. Today, we can take an important step forward in patient protection and patient confidence. We should be clear that the Bill is not a panacea, but it would address one specific point.
It is unfortunate that, in the past few months, we have been made aware of some horror stories involving doctors and dentists. It was interesting to note that an opinion poll published yesterday found that that had not dented public confidence in doctors and dentists--in fact, it is still as high as it has ever been. When hon. Members talk to individuals--as we do in our surgeries and in conversations in our constituencies--we find great dissatisfaction among those who think that their complaints are not being taken seriously. It is a matter not necessarily of confidence in an individual practitioner, but of being taken seriously.
Some of the issues that have come to light in the press have been as a result of dissatisfaction at the failure of internal investigations. I say with some regret that I do not believe that the relevant regulatory medical authorities have come out of recent events with much credit.
I am sure that other hon. Members have had cause to take up complaints made against doctors by constituents. They will be as dissatisfied as I am with the delays in, for example, the procedures of the General Medical Council in investigating complaints and in responding to correspondence from Members.
One of the first cases that was brought to my attention as an MP was from my constituent Mr. Burgess. He had a complaint against his mother-in-law's GP after she had died. Like many people, he contacted me not as the first port of call but in desperation and frustration at the pace at which his complaint was being dealt with. Even after he referred the case to me, promised deadlines were missed, and I have had to write several times to ascertain what is happening. When a deadline is missed, I write again and am told that it has been extended. Where the GP has not responded to inquiries from the GMC, the case
has not been followed up until I have written to ask about it. There seems to be no sense of urgency about the investigation of the complaint, and scant acknowledgement that my constituent has complained out of genuine and heartfelt concern. A lesser man would have given up. I am still waiting for a response to an inquiry that I made on behalf of another constituent last November.
That does not give me much confidence in the system. What makes matters worse is that, in extreme cases, when a doctor or dentist retires or leaves the NHS for the private sector--sometimes in extremely dubious circumstances, as the right hon. Member for Wealden said--there is no way of following through a complaint unless criminal proceedings can be instigated.
It remains open to unscrupulous doctors and dentists who are facing an investigation and are worried about its outcome merely to retire. They can then carry on practising with no founded complaint against them.
The health service ombudsman has said that this issue should be addressed. The right hon. Gentleman rightly said that only a few people will be affected by the Bill, but the principle is important. There may only be a few isolated cases, but that does not lessen the pain and concern of the people involved. There is the potential for a more general, larger, national problem, and it is through the good will of doctors and dentists that we have not had greater difficulties. Our role as parliamentarians and legislators is to spot such loopholes and to attempt to close them.
It is important constantly to review the work and effectiveness of the public sector ombudsmen, and consider taking action, especially when they draw issues of concern to our attention. I await with interest the outcome of the review of the public sector ombudsmen that is currently with Cabinet Ministers, in the hope that we can use that to strengthen their role and act to increase public confidence. The Bill is about public confidence and protection.
I pay credit to the work of the Consumers Association in supporting the Bill and drawing such matters to our attention. There is also considerable local impetus, which is always important when we are dealing with such issues. I have received representations from my local Basildon and Thurrock community health council. It is an effective local body, and it wants to know that its concerns are being taken seriously. I have worked with the council on a number of occasions, and with Mark Ham and his team in Basildon, who want to be assured that complaints and concerns will be followed through to the very end, and that no doctor or dentist will be able to evade his or her responsibilities during investigations.
Like many others, the local community health council has had cases in which doctors under investigation have retired, so that the investigation has come to an end. That is of great concern to the council, and it has asked me to raise the issue in the House today, because this problem affects the support that it feels able to give patients who seek its advice.
The fact that a loophole exists affects patients' confidence in the system, and may result in their not proceeding with complaints because they do not think that it is worth while if a doctor can retire or move out of the NHS to avoid the complaint being considered. The system is a deterrent to complaints, and we shall never know how
many complaints have not been made for fear that they will not be taken seriously and that the doctor will not be fully investigated.
The vast majority of doctors deserve our confidence, but unless we are prepared to deal with the issues that severely test our faith in the system, we do a disservice to all doctors. Unless we tackle the real fears and concerns, we cannot expect the public to trust us, or the medical profession as a whole. When that situation develops, it undermines the work of many good doctors.
This is just one aspect of the reform of the ombudsmen's powers. It is a small reform, but it is important if we are to retain public confidence. I believe that we should considerably increase the ombudsmen's powers in this and in other areas. We cannot address that issue today, but this Bill is a welcome and necessary start.
I hope that the Minister will accept that the flaws in the system need to be dealt with as soon as possible. It is not only confidence in the medical profession that is at stake--as I have mentioned several times--but confidence in our own profession. If such problems are highlighted and we fail to act, we are failing to live up to our own responsibilities, and we have no right to criticise and complain about other professions not living up to theirs.
Sir Peter Emery (East Devon):
It is with great pleasure that I support the Bill introduced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Sir G. Johnson Smith). He has been fortunate in the ballot, and I congratulate him on the Bill that he has allowed me to help him bring before the House. The hon. Member for Basildon (Angela Smith) made a pleasant speech, and in reply to her worry about the ballot, I have to tell her that, having been in this place for 41 years, I have been one of the seven signatories only once. I think that my right hon. Friend the Member for Wealden, who came into the House at the same time as I did, is more fortunate, because this is his second private Member's Bill. He had a Bill on--what was it?
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