Health and Social Care Bill

Debate between Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Baroness Gould of Potternewton

Wednesday 29th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

My Lords, I had a long speech prepared but I have decided to reject it on the grounds that what we will hear tonight will be sound common sense. At the end of my speech on Second Reading I said that we would expect sound common sense, and all the indications are that this will happen. I sincerely hope that that is the case. I am going to make a very short contribution tonight—possibly the shortest I have ever made in your Lordships’ House —and make two specific comments. I have argued and campaigned for this change for many years and, as I say, I hope that I will be able to say thank you.

Not only is this a health issue that will protect the public and bring HIV treatment in line with other infectious diseases—it will save valuable NHS resources in the long term. Principally, however, it is absolutely wrong to discriminate against any section of the community, as has been happening since this rule was first brought in in 2004. There is no question but that universal access, which this regulation will introduce, will be very important in ultimately reducing the cost to the NHS and in making it easier to have early diagnosis, thereby reducing onward transmission and guaranteeing hospital treatment if that is required. No deterrent should be put in the way of reducing transmission and treatment. I hope that that will now cease.

I hope, finally, that the concept of HIV tourism has been accepted as the myth that I have always believed it to be. I hope I am right in saying that I can genuinely thank the Government for a change to this rule. I dread the thought that the Minister is going to stand up and say the wrong thing now—I hope that that is not the case. I also want to thank those HIV organisations that, along with me and others, have campaigned for this change for many years. It has been a long and hard battle trying to persuade people that what we are asking for is, in many ways, not a big issue, although it is for those who are affected by it. Again, I can only say thank you, given that we are perhaps going to get regulations that will change that.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff]

My Lords, I did have a speech prepared in support of this amendment, based on the Welsh experience. However, after being woken by the “Today” programme telling me about a debate that we had not had—or that I thought I might have perhaps slept through—and announcing how the Government had responded in a way that I could not recall, I decided simply to bin my speech and live in hope. That is how we all are at the moment. We await the Government’s response to the amendments.