Part of Health Service Commissioner for England (Complaint Handling) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 2:00 pm ar 15 Ionawr 2015.
David Davis
Ceidwadwyr, Haltemprice and Howden
2:00,
15 Ionawr 2015
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Two major damages are done. The first is clearly to the healing process or, indeed, the closure process, in the case of the Morrish family, who feel they have received bad treatment over and over again, from not just the health service but the system that is designed to put such things right. The second damage is the delay in correcting the problems. The Morrish little boy died from septic shock, which was misdiagnosed several times in the system. Each of those stages that went wrong should have been corrected straight away or as soon as possible thereafter. I have had discussions with the health ombudsman and with the Chair of the Public Administration Committee on the issue, and they both understood that. I will come to the effect of that.
The Bill is the first small step in a series of reforms that is currently countenanced by the Public Administration Committee, the Cabinet Office, the Department of Health and, indeed, by the health service ombudsman; she has already made a lot of managerial changes to improve things. The reforms that are coming after this and that will further enhance the service are being debated in Whitehall, in the Government system, and in Parliament. It is possible that we may adopt one or two of those on Report if there is a consensus for them. I say very firmly across the Floor that I will take that stance only if there is a consensus. I give the Committee warning of that.
I mention, en passant, the two amendments that I will not move. They were given to me by the ombudsman service to make the Bill consistent in its wording with the primary legislation that enables the existence of the ombudsman. I chose not to move them because, frankly, people—including the Department—have not had time to consider them properly. We will come back, either with them or with a modified variant. Please would all Committee members tell me if they think that something needs to be done with them? I do not, under any circumstances, want to dilute what we are doing but I may come back to them on Report.
Beyond that, Clause 1 is the substance and the nub of a simple Bill, which is about common sense and will serve to prevent, in the long future, the sort of tragedies and failures of the Sam Morrish case.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Whitehall is a wide road that runs through the heart of Westminster, starting at Trafalgar square and ending at Parliament. It is most often found in Hansard as a way of referring to the combined mass of central government departments, although many of them no longer have buildings on Whitehall itself.
