NHS Redress Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 5:"Page 2, line 7, leave out subsection (7)." The noble Earl said: This is a probing amendment, designed to elicit an explanation from the Minister of what subsection (7) means. The wording refers to,"““services that . . . are not provided in a hospital, but . . . are of a kind that are normally so provided””," and states that these services may in regulations be treated as if they were provided in a hospital. First, it would be helpful to hear what particular services the Government are thinking of here. The policy statement refers to hospital-like services provided in prisons; but I wonder whether there are other examples, such as services provided in ambulances. But the other issue here is what exactly counts as a hospital. The noble Baroness, Lady Neuberger, has already alluded to that issue. We are told in Clause 18 that ““hospital”” has the same meaning as in the National Health Service Act 1977. Would the Minister be kind enough to tell us what that definition is? The definition I have is,"““any institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness, any maternity home and any institution for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or persons requiring medical rehabilitation, and includes clinics, dispensaries and out-patient departments maintained in connection with any such home or institution””." That definition is taken from page 7 of the Government’s policy statement, and I would therefore be inclined to take it as official. We can see from the definition that we are talking about much more than the typical acute trust. Indeed, nowadays we see springing up in quite a number of PCT areas buildings that go under the portmanteau name of ““hospital”” but which are really more properly classified as treatment centres. They do not have the capacity to cope with elective surgery on any scale; they do not have A&E facilities; they are simply community clinics which happen to include a number of day beds—very often—and facilities for professionals such as physiotherapists and podiatrists to treat patients referred by GPs. If these centres count as hospitals under the 1977 definition, the scope of subsection (7) looks rather wider than it might at first appear, which is why I would be grateful if the Minister could provide some further and more detailed guidance. If the definition that I read out is correct, very few sorts of service can be counted as not being provided in hospital, so it is all the more relevant for us to establish the Government’s intentions as regards subsection (7). I beg to move.