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Health and Social Care Bill

I want to add a few sentences. I, too, am very disturbed by the noble Earl’s amendment because, like the noble Lord, Lord Walton, I find that I usually agree with him. Indeed, I wonder if I am saying the wrong thing because I am disagreeing with him. But I am worried about a general trend which seems to be developing in the National Health Service that almost deprofessionalises the profession. I hope that I am not putting it in too strong terms. We are no longer the great medical profession, we are part of the workforce of the National Health Service and we are being regulated and told what to do. In the past year, we have even been told how to train junior doctors, right down to where they should apply and what form they should download from the internet. I hope that the Minister can reassure me that there is no intention on the Government’s part to deprofessionalise the medical profession. At the moment, there is a great danger that this is beginning to happen because the profession has for decades worked loyally with the National Health Service. It is a dangerous development and the medical profession is starting to see a red light and to wonder what its future is within the health service. Maybe I am generalising too much, but that is my worry, and it is encapsulated in the noble Earl’s amendment because I am afraid that it may be one more step in the deprofessionalisation of the profession because it would somehow diminish the role of the GMC. I would not want that to happen. My noble friend Lord Carlile is not yet in his place—I hope that he will arrive soon—but I wonder what would happen if the same sort of processes were introduced for lawyers. I think that there would be an awful stink, but of course it cannot happen to them because they do not work for a national legal service, they are still independent. That is my contribution and I hope that the Minister can offer some reassurance.