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Health and Social Care Bill

I too welcome the amendments and the remarks made by the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) and his colleagues, who have welcomed this approach to the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European convention. That is a breath of fresh air as we do not always get that attitude from the Opposition on the benefits of that legislation. The hon. Gentleman cited with approbation my Committee's report on older people in health care—both in hospitals and in care homes—although I do not propose to go through all the examples we described in that report. The hon. Gentleman was asked about enforceability and he batted the question over to me. The answer is twofold. First, and most importantly, if the Act does apply in these circumstances, it strengthens the hand of the staff involved in arguing for more resources and better instructions and in standing up for residents against management if asked to do things that are not human rights compliant, perhaps relating to dignity and respect, because of lack of time or ability to deal with a particular patient. Secondly, it enables a general raising of standards, which is the only way we will be able to ensure that the human rights of the elderly are respected, whether in care homes or hospitals. The rights will also be enforceable through judicial review. Indeed, the issue arose because of a judicial review in the YL case, in which Mrs. YL was about to be evicted from her care home in Birmingham after a dispute, and the House of Lords found that she did not have any enforceable rights in that case. Luckily, that case was resolved amicably after the damage had been done in the House of Lords, so Mrs. YL did not lose out. The law was however put in limbo by that decision.