Health Bill [HL]

Amendment 126 126: After Clause 32, insert the following new Clause— "Admission of patients with spinal injuries (1) The Secretary of State shall by regulations establish a national bed bureau for patients with spinal injuries to monitor and manage the availability of hospital beds for patients with spinal injuries. (2) The bureau must in particular aim to meet the following objectives— (a) to provide a single commissioning service across England and Wales for the provision of beds in spinal units; (b) to work with primary care trusts and hospital trusts to co-ordinate information on the availability of hospital beds for patients with spinal injuries within each strategic health authority; and (c) to ensure that beds are made available to patients with spinal injuries as soon as possible following admission, both when a patient is admitted for the first time and when a patient is urgently readmitted. (3) Regulations under this section must stipulate— (a) details of how membership of the bureau is to be decided, (b) the terms of reference of the bureau, (c) the types of information that hospitals must make accessible to the bureau for the purposes of establishing availability of beds, (d) details of any pay or remuneration made to members of the bureau, (e) any powers which the bureau will have to instruct hospitals to admit patients from outside their usual area. (4) At the end of each financial year, the bureau must produce a report for the Secretary of State which outlines how each of the objectives in subsection (2) have been met and which makes recommendations as to how performance in these areas could be improved. (5) The Secretary of State must respond in writing to the bureau’s report within two months of its reporting. (6) Regulations made by the Secretary of State under this section are— (a) to be made by statutory instrument, and (b) subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament."