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Health and Social Care Bill

If a regulator does not do its duty and leaves out some areas that it should be looking at, what will happen? Also, what will happen if there are not enough available trained people to fulfil the duties? My name is attached to Amendment No. 4. I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, knows better than most people in this Room how important safety and quality is. He may not know that some places are very substandard. To give an example, last night, I was telephoned to be told that a man with a new spinal lesion had been shunted between four different London hospitals. He was on a waiting list to be admitted to the spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He has at last been admitted but he has pressure sores and MRSA. In addition, at one of the London hospitals he had a plate put in his spine and it has been found that one of the screws holding it in place was screwed into a damaged vertebra. He now has to have another operation. Something must be done to achieve high standards throughout the NHS and social care. It is vital that patients go to places where their problems are known and where they can be treated appropriately. I declare an interest as president of the Spinal Injuries Association. Lately, we have been hearing of more and more such cases because there is too much pressure on these specialised units and too many patients, many of whom are older, require treatment there. I hope that something can be done.