Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, noble Lords have spoken to their amendments effectively and comprehensively, so I will not deal with all the amendments. I start by giving our support to the spirit behind Amendment 318BA, tabled by my noble friend Lord Whitty and the noble Lord, Lord Low, and Amendment 322, tabled by my noble friends Lord Rooker and Lord Harris. They underline the crucial need to uphold the independence of local healthwatch organisations by enabling them to carry out their activities as they see fit, subject to any directions from Healthwatch England, and emphasise that they must not be regarded as either servants or agents of the local authority. Local independence is vital for people to have trust and confidence in their local healthwatch organisations to articulate their priorities and the needs of the local community. To be effective, they must be able to scrutinise how consortia and health and well-being boards have undertaken public engagement and transparency, and how they are ensuring that the patient voice is embedded in the care pathway design. They also need to be able to scrutinise how lay representatives on consortia and health and well-being boards themselves undertake public engagement and transparency. Amendment 318E in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, would require local healthwatch organisations to provide the NHS Commissioning Board with their opinion on whether local plans take proper account of their views, as evidence in reports and recommendations. We support this, and of course underline that CCGs must also be required to consult local healthwatch organisations while commissioning plans are drawn up and developed. On the question of how local healthwatch organisations are funded, we need to recognise the widespread concern raised by noble Lords and current LINks organisations that the arrangements for local healthwatch organisations and their dependence on funding from local authorities compromise their independence, particularly in terms of public perception and confidence in their role and work. With local authorities having greater involvement in healthcare—particularly public health—how will healthwatch organisations be able to exercise the independence that the public would expect? A number of amendments seek to address that issue, either through guaranteeing resources or prescribing how the local authority should take decisions in relation to its commissioning of healthwatch, the allocation of resources and the governance arrangements. Perversely, some of them could have the unintentional consequence of tying in local healthwatch groups to the local authority more tightly. In view of the current economic climate and the massive cuts that local authorities are having to make, the concerns and unease over the future resourcing of local healthwatch organisations need to be addressed. I hope that the Minister will recognise this as a major issue, consult all stakeholders and come back to us on Report with reassurances and solutions. This is the first time we have touched on the new independent advocacy services that local authorities will be required to establish to provide assistance to individuals making complaints about health or community care services or providers, including using the local healthwatch organisation to deliver this service. We are very sympathetic to Amendment 324 from the noble Lords, Lord Rix and Lord Wigley, and the noble Viscount, Lord Tenby. It seeks to prevent any case being dismissed from the outset or midway through as too complex or lengthy. Complaints against the health service are often complex and require long periods of support to be provided to the complainant. It is a service that should be provided to all users, and provision will need to be made to support people with mental health problems and learning difficulties, as well as people with disabilities. We support Amendment 325 in the names of my noble friends Lord Rooker and Lord Harris. This would provide for advocacy to cover complaints about both health and social care. I look forward to the Minister’s response on these issues.