Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, like others, I should declare an interest. My father was a GP and my wife an occupational therapist. I have taken an interest in the NHS for the past 12 years in Parliament, but I feel more intimidated than the noble Lord, Lord Mawhinney, for good reason. However, I see great merit in Amendment 2 and the other amendments in the group. As many colleagues have said in their speeches, there is a big issue here that needs to be addressed in a specific way. To be specific, at Second Reading I raised the issue of healthcare assistants. A concern has been expressed to me by others—and I read in the newspapers—that a voluntary code for healthcare assistants may just not be enough. This morning I was speaking to a nurse and she made a very clear point. She said: ““We are directing healthcare assistants in nursing and we give them the jobs to do but I do have a concern that if they do not have sufficient training they may carry out the job I have given them not particularly well and that is a responsibility which goes back upon my shoulders.””. To quote from the papers, "““It is amazing that healthcare assistants, caring for patients in uniforms indistinguishable from nurses, are completely unregistered””—" That may not be quite correct, I do not know— "““and can start work with as little as an hour’s training””." I have highlighted this issue for later in the Bill. I hope the Minister will consider this and have time to look at it at a later stage.