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Health and Social Care Bill

My hon. Friend is right. Interestingly, her two most recent interventions demonstrate how this point applies at all vulnerable stages of life, both in the early and later years. Some of us rather wish it might also apply in the middle stage, as then there would be some solution to the difficult problem of controlling weight. This is a serious issue. It is important that staff have knowledge and training, both in the care setting and in the hospital setting, where nurses are involved. They must recognise the importance of nutrition and have knowledge of it, and they must be able to monitor it. An appropriate amount of time must be available to care for people by ensuring that they eat regularly and eat the right things. People must be monitored for vital nutritional and vitamin values, particularly as an illness—or the condition of ageing—often means that digesting becomes more difficult. This is a human right, and we have been anxious to understand how that would have a direct bearing on Lords amendments Nos. 51 and 61. The British Medical Journal figures that I recently gave reaffirm those provided by BAPEN's screening week, an initiative that the Government claimed to support. However, the Department of Health chose instead to describe the figures as,"““hopelessly out of date or misinterpreted””." That was a surprise. Furthermore, the Government's own figures, provided to me through a written parliamentary answer, showed that the number of under-nourished patients being discharged from hospital had risen by 84 per cent. since 1997. There has been a further discussion with the Minister on that point, and on what is described as an episode and how the percentages are reached. I acknowledge that there was some clarification of some of these statistics, but I believe that the Minister accepts that there is a vital issue here that must be considered. The question is whether the Lords amendments will be of assistance in respect of this prime example of a matter that is seen as a health issue but is in fact best described as a human rights issue. To do so enables us to define people's entitlement, which in turn gives them rights. Rights confer power and are enforceable, whereas people have their health and care opportunities handed down to them from on high.