UK Parliament / Open data

Health Bill [HL]

Proceeding contribution from Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour) in the House of Lords on Thursday, 26 February 2009. It occurred during Debate on bills and Committee proceeding on Health Bill [HL].
I am not a professional in this area, but a consumer of services. My noble friend referred to MRSA. I could produce data on a hospital from these accounts that would not indicate to the public what is going on. Let us take a hospital with 20 wards. One ward is the principal ward where there is a problem with MRSA. If there is reference in these accounts to the whole hospital, the public is no wiser. They need to know which ward. I know that it is difficult for many hospitals to provide that information because they believe that those wards then become vulnerable, but that is the only way to impose the disciplines on those wards to get higher standards. Will the MRSA data be collected across the whole unit or will they be localised so that the public can see what is going on? On the question of patient experience, I have been a day patient. Even today, I have been a day patient. I seem to be in and out all the time, although I have not been a residential patient for some 12 months. When these patient experience information-requesting arrangements are made and the forms go out are we asking patients who may well be very low, just want to go home and not want to be bothered or is some other arrangement now in place for acquiring that information? If it is based on people who are down and not feeling too good completing forms, I do not think they are going to fill them in very honestly. I certainly would not.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

708 c167-8GC 

Session

2008-09

Chamber / Committee

House of Lords Grand Committee
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