Health: Care and Compassion?

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I will look and see where we are on a formal reply to the commission’s report. Again, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for her work in leading the nursing profession. She is absolutely right that strong nursing leadership at every level, from ward to board, is essential to ensure high-quality care. Ward managers make a critical difference, matrons provide strong leadership on wards and all nurses, I believe, must aspire to continuous quality improvement. That is why we expect directors of nursing to review this report with a view to addressing any areas of improvement in their own organisations.

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, we warmly welcome this report and the actions that the Government are going to take upon it. However, how will a fully competitive market in healthcare ensure that older people are looked after properly, with care and compassion?

[Earl Howe]

Perhaps I may elaborate on an answer I gave earlier about our reform proposals, which have at their heart the strengthening of accountability. There will be accountability: for outcomes, through the outcomes framework, to ensure that NHS providers focus first and foremost on quality; through GP commissioning, which will bring commissioning closer to patients and ensure that it is clinically informed; and in strengthened local accountability, not only through the health and well-being boards in local authorities but via the public, through Health Watch, which will ensure that the NHS focuses on what is important to patients and citizens.