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NHS Redress Bill [Lords]

No. Hardly anybody gave way to me in Committee or this afternoon, so I will just make my brief remarks and sit down. I spoke more than once on Second Reading and in Committee about different ways in which the Bill could have been dealt with from the beginning and different ways in which it could have been improved throughout. Most fundamentally, if I had designed the Bill, I would not have based it on the rather limiting test of liability in tort, but tried to develop a more modern, flexible and patient-centred avoidability test. For me, that is the key remaining weakness, although there is no reason why such issues should not be considered in future. My hon. Friend the Minister said that the operation of the Bill and the scheme will be reviewed. I urge him to examine those matters in the future. On the whole, the scheme and the Bill are good. It could make a genuine difference to people’s lives at times of sickness, and to their relations with the NHS when it lets them down and they try to deal with that. I am pleased with and proud of the way in which the Bill has developed and changed. I sincerely recommend it to patients and patient consumer organisations. My hon. Friend the Minister has provided a master-class in listening government. He has trodden carefully and chosen wisely. He has done that with tolerance and good humour and won grudging plaudits from some Opposition Members. He has my wholehearted admiration and thanks. Until today, albeit on occasions, most Opposition Members had made a good fist of it, and my thanks and congratulations go to them. The Bill was basically good all along. It is now immeasurably better for having been through Parliament. One cannot say either of those things about many measures. Having been involved with a Bill that satisfies both criteria, we should count ourselves lucky and commend it to our constituents and concerned organisations.