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Health and Social Care Bill

Without repeating everything that has been said so far, I support most of the amendments. I agree completely with the issue raised by my noble friends Lord Harris and Lord Warner about the performance and function of the commission with respect to the Secretary of State. I declare an interest as a chair of an NHS acute trust which, regrettably, was on the receiving end of an improvement notice late last year. I emphasise—although I am sure that the detail may be upsetting for some people—that we need to ensure that not only the actions taken by the commission referred to in paragraph (c) but the process within which the regulator will be operating is very clear. The big issue for my trust, which is important for all issues around patient care, is that the Healthcare Commission knew exactly what it was serving the improvement notice on, but beyond that, it did not know how to deal with it. It did not have the same rigour in ensuring that a step forward for patient care and understanding was made. I agree with everything said about the robustness of the regulators’ understanding needing to be in the Bill, but we must also understand the effect of whatever regulation is implemented.