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Health and Social Care Bill

I support the amendment proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, at least as much for what it leaves out of the Bill as for what it puts into it. Under subsection (3)(a), every time a drunk who is being stitched up in A&E says, ““This place is a shambles””, that will have to be reported to the commission so that it can have regard to it. Indeed, when he says, ““Cor, God bless, you lot are angels””, that, too, will have to be reported to the commission. Of course I exaggerate to make the point, but it is not right to take casual remarks of members of the public as though they were equal to a more considered process. In support of the amendment proposed by the noble Baroness, whether the rest of it is right or not, the phrase ““engage with”” is at the nub of the problem. We need a degree of dialogue and of mutual understanding. That is not just a question of having regard to some grand body up there saying that this or that sounds good, but of communicating in a two-way direction. That is what in the modern world the noble Baroness said this kind of consultation involves. I would like to see the Bill amended to reflect it.