Health Bill [HL]

I have the greatest respect for the noble Earl who proposed the amendment and the noble Baroness who spoke to it but I have to express some personal concerns about its content. When we debated the Bill at Second Reading it was stressed, rightly so, that the NHS Constitution is not a code or a statute but a set of guidelines. It is clear that the Bill makes it apparent that people working in the NHS and those who are subject to its rules and regulations must take account of or take note of or pay regard to the provisions of the constitution. With that I wholly agree. It is clear that the principles set out in the amendment are admirable and totally unexceptionable. My concern is that if, as is the purpose of the amendment, this group of principles were embodied in the Bill, it would become part of a statute. I foresee the danger that if for any reason individuals of litigious intent felt that these principles were not being fulfilled it could give rise to litigation. At Second Reading, I said how crucial it was that issues which are best dealt with by common law are handled by common law and not by prescriptive statutes. There are so many other principles that are a part of the National Health Service which are not included here and might be regarded as being of considerable importance. Nothing is said in these principles about the responsibility of the NHS for the education of healthcare professionals, nurses, other healthcare professionals, doctors and others, which is a crucial part of the responsibilities of the NHS. There is nothing said about the principles relating to the advancement of knowledge by research, which can nourish patient care and produce new developments which are vital to the future of medicine and patient care in general. Nothing is said about the crucial importance of the NHS nurturing advances in a vast range of medical technologies, which might equally have been included. Therefore, while its intention is very worthy, to embody the amendment in the Bill would be dangerous for some of the reasons that I have mentioned.