Health and Social Care Bill

Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes Excerpts

Monday 19th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

My Lords, I do not want to sound like a broken record in always resisting more statutory regulation or in disagreeing with colleagues with whom I normally agree, but I want to emphasise the application of light-touch regulation. We should use only the minimum regulatory force to achieve the desired result. Therefore, we should be considering extending regulation only where the risks to patient safety and public protection are such that other mechanisms such as those I previously mentioned—employer’s guidance, clinical governance, appropriate delegation and multidisciplinary teamworking—are unable to manage those risks.

When the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence becomes the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, it will be accrediting voluntary registers as a more proportionate and targeted approach to developing high standards of care for people working in health and social care who are not statutorily regulated. I remind your Lordships that statutory regulation can be expensive and it is important that we explore and develop a range of options for maintaining and improving the quality of care delivered by people working in health and social care. It may be more proportionate, for instance, to promote greater co-operation and sharing of good practice. We seek to find the most efficient and common-sense solutions to the kind of problems that your Lordships have identified.

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes]

What proportion of voluntary persons employed in operating theatres are expected to be affected? Is it not the case that the great proportion of them are specialists who are subject to statutory regulation?

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

Currently, a great proportion are in statutory regulation, given that voluntary regulation is being developed. The CHRE is currently working on that.