Accountability and Transparency in the NHS

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

I was appalled to read in the Francis report on the Mid Staffs inquiry the stories of the unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people and, indeed, to hear the examples given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) in this debate. Those Mid Staffs patients were let down and there was a lack of care, compassion, humanity and leadership. The most basic standards of care were not observed and fundamental rights to dignity were not respected.

Our Health Committee has taken evidence from Robert Francis, who has said that there was a failure of the NHS system

“at every level to detect and take the action patients and the public were entitled to expect.”

He has summarised his own recommendations as: fundamental and easily understood standards; openness, transparency and candour; accountability to patients and the public; enhanced training for nurses and leaders; and ever-improving measures of performance.

In the short time available, I want to focus on two areas: first, accountability or, indeed, the lack of it in our NHS structures, and secondly—this has already been touched on—the question of what is good practice on patient safety.

The Health Committee is increasingly seeing examples of a gap in accountability in the restructured NHS and I will touch on one small example that we heard this week. We had a session with senior Department of Health staff—the director of mental health, the national clinical director of mental health and the deputy director of secure mental health services—who are responsible for advising Ministers on mental health strategy, for devising mental health legislation and for clinical leadership on mental health. They did not know that patient groups were reporting cuts to community mental health services or that they lacked access to therapeutic services, with very long waits.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that scrutiny to make sure that the dignity of mental health patients is protected is of utmost importance?