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Mr. Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam): I look forward to the contribution of the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Mr. Shaw). The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) said that he looked forward to the Minister's response in due course, and it remains to be seen how long, and how detailed, that turns out to be, as I know that some Members are minded to engage in a detailed dialogue on these matters.
The Government amendments are wholly welcome and useful additions to the Bill, and rightly respond to concerns that were raised by Members on both sides of the Committee. The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge broadly welcomed amendment No. 31, which we tabled and to which my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Dr. Brand) will speak in some detail. When he does so, we shall see whether the amendment involves the degree of paranoia that was suggested might underpin it. My hon. Friend and I wish to ensure that the Minister addresses concerns on that matter.
I wish to concentrate on amendment No. 32 and shall comment in passing on amendment No. 3, which was tabled by the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge. Both amendments deal with the same issue, as the hon. Gentleman and I, as well as many other Members, are trying to find a route by which we can create a common architecture for establishing a sensible regime of standard setting across the health sector, regardless of whether services are public or independent. Our discussion is part of a long-running debate--indeed, I suspect that the Minister sometimes thinks that it has been running for far too long--which started with consideration of the Health Act 1999, when we had detailed discussion in Committee and on the Floor of the House about the role of the Commission for Health Improvement, and which continued with the progress of the Bill through all its stages in the Lords and in this place.
It has begun to feel a bit like trench warfare, as there are two clearly defined positions, one on whether it is possible to establish a common framework in which health care standards are set and assured and the other on whether we have to have two parallel or separate structures to do that. To be fair, the Government have moved quite a long way from the position originally taken by the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson), the former Secretary of State. When the Select Committee on Health conducted an inquiry into the regulation and inspection of the private health care sector, the former Secretary of State responded to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight by saying that it was not the role of Government to provide a stamp of approval for the private sector.
Clearly, things have moved on, and the Government recognise that there is a legitimate role for Government in providing a mechanism to give the public assurances and guarantees of standards wherever they receive health care. We welcome that movement, which has continued with the passage of the Bill through this place and the House of Lords. When the Bill was published, it was plain that the National Care Standards Commission would have a role in private health care, but that that would be clearly separate from the NHS. CHIMP was not to have a role in private health care because, as several Ministers said, CHIMP is a tailor-made institution, geared to dealing with the specific circumstances of the NHS, which is a managed service. By contrast, they said that private health care services needed to be brought into a regulatory framework. Somehow, those two things were completely different and could not be brought together in a single structure.
Since then, however, in the other place, a majority of their lordships decided that the Bill was defective and a clause was added which would have given CHIMP a specific role in providing, on behalf of the NCSC, inspection and registration of the independent sector. That new clause was subsequently removed in Committee, much to the regret of my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight, myself and many people outside the House.
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We are particularly concerned that the Bill remains silent on the question of a duty of quality that will apply across the board, and not only to the NHS, in respect of which we have debated the rightful need for such a duty to exist. A similar, comparable standard should be applied to the private sector. The Government should now make further moves on that, and even if we cannot affect their actions in this debate, I hope that when the Bill returns to the other place, their lordships will closely examine our debates in Committee and on Report and give the Government an opportunity, by way of an amendment, to think again about how they can provide a consistent framework.
There is no difference between a medical intervention in the private sector and one in the NHS--how can there be? I do not understand how clinical governance can be relevant in the NHS but irrelevant in the private sector. We were told that clinical governance was irrelevant in the private sector because it was defined only in regulations and not in a Bill. Surely it is not beyond the wit of the Government to find a mechanism to provide such a definition so that there is clarity about what clinical governance means in the private sector. It should mean exactly the same as it does in the NHS.
The same applies to clinical management of patients. Surely that also requires common standards. That would be common sense, and we still do not understand why the Government are not prepared to put in place the mechanisms that will guarantee those common standards for everyone in this country.
As I said, the Government's case is that the NHS is a managed service, but the private sector is not and has to be regulated in some form. However, the NCSC will be regulating managed services provided by the public sector, such as boarding schools and colleges, and care homes run by local authorities. Why is it that those institutions, which are provided for and managed by the public sector, have to be regulated and inspected, but the NHS, which is also provided for and managed by the public sector, is not to be regulated and inspected in the same way? What is the difference? Is it simply that the Government are not prepared to trust local government in this respect? What is the difficulty that means that the Government want to twist the logic of the case for a seamless system and have a two-tier system instead?
The Minister has not explained that, and in Committee his colleagues did not adequately address that conundrum, which is at the heart of the Bill. Amendment No. 32, in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight, is intended to provide a vehicle for debate about that and to give the Government a chance to reflect further on what mechanisms could be put in place to use the skills and resources that will be at the disposal of the
Commission for Health Improvement to ensure that we are monitoring and driving up standards in the private sector.The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge did an admirable job of explaining the purpose of that amendment, so I will not say much more about it. I am grateful for his broad support. Amendment No. 3 in his name takes a similar approach in trying, albeit by a very different route, to provide a structure that would bring together the two sectors.
Ideally, the Commission for Health Improvement should be an arm of the NCSC. That would be logical and it would provide a better fit if we are to have a system that covers the independent sector and the public sector. When one considers that there are more than 200 hospitals in the private sector with more than 10,000 beds, and that last year, there were some 800,000 treatments in that sector, it makes no sense to exclude those treatments from a regime that guarantees standards. That is why we think that one regime with one set of standards and a common understanding of clinical governance would be far better than two separate regimes. In a sense, our amendment is about establishing a vehicle through the NCSC that will achieve that--albeit by dint of setting up a committee. Committees might not be the best vehicle, but they are a means of persuading the Government to consider the matter further.
If we have two separate regimes, as we will under the Bill as drafted, there is immense potential for grey areas to engulf the issues of who has responsibility for the inspection of services, where the line should be drawn between acute and chronic care, and which body has responsibility for the public and the private sector. What if an NHS patient is taken into the private independent sector? Does the inspection regime follow the patient, or does it depend on which bed they occupy when receiving treatment?
Mr. Hammond: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government's introduction into the Bill of clause 7, which allows cross co-operation between the Commission for Health Improvement and the NCSC, averts some of the more bizarre possible outcomes while doing nothing to address the fundamental issue?
Mr. Burstow: I agree absolutely. The hon. Gentleman allows me to acknowledge that, to some extent, the Government have changed their mind and addressed the concerns raised by Opposition Members and Cross- Benchers in the Lords. It is right to establish a mechanism whereby cross-contracting can take place. However, we want to go further--hence our amendment and our argument that, instead of allowing the possibility of contracting to take place between the two agencies, the Government should recognise the necessity of doing so, or--better still--make CHIMP part of the NCSC.
Barring a miracle, it is unlikely that we shall be able to gather enough votes today to persuade the Government to accept either amendment No. 3 or amendment No. 32, but there is a possibility of our doing so in the other place. I hope that, when their lordships give the Bill further consideration, they will agree with Opposition Members that the matter is one that should not be left as it stands, with the Government amendments made in Committee, and that there is a long way to go before the public can
be guaranteed common standards of care wherever they happen to be treated, whether in the independent health care sector or the NHS.That is what the public now want. When told that there are to be two separate regimes governing the quality and standards of care that they receive, the public are horrified. They want guarantees, continuity and standards that can be assured throughout the health sector. That is what the amendment is designed to achieve. I hope that the Government will accept it, but, if they do not, we hope that the Lords will do more.
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