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Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, I, too, oppose the amendment, for two reasons, the first of which has not been mentioned today. A lot of people said that, if found guilty, a doctor would lose his livelihood, so it was important to keep the criminal standard of proof to make that less likely to happen. We cannot judge doctors by different standards from the rest of the population—that is a ridiculous notion. Everyone’s profession, job or place of work is important to them, and it is not only doctors whom we must consider when dealing with such legal matters. The other reason why it is important to endorse the enshrining of the civil burden of proof in the Bill is that that enables previous episodes of complaints against the doctor of carelessness—not necessarily malpractice—to be taken into account when considering the case. That cannot be done under the criminal burden of proof. When we are talking about healthcare and care of individuals—the general public—it is terribly important to take that into account. A series of events, not necessarily just one event, might mean that someone should lose their entitlement to practise. I regret that I have to oppose the noble Baroness’s amendment. I almost always support her but on this occasion I feel that I cannot.