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Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, before the Minister sits down, does he agree that there are legitimate reasons, other than the incapacity of individual patients, to rule out particular services from individual health budgets? If, because of this policy, it is possible that provision of a particular service within an area would cease and that that can be predicted now, is it right that that particular area of service should not be included in a pilot? That is the point I seek to make. For example, that could apply on specialist services such as palliative care, where there are only small numbers of people and the level of need for that service cannot be predicted regularly. The Minister’s answer is important. I feel so strongly that this is of importance, not just to these pilots but to the future of the NHS, that I would be willing to test the opinion of the House on it.