Health Service Commissioner for England (Complaint Handling) Bill

Earl Howe Excerpts

Friday 13th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con)]

My Lords, I very much welcome the debate on this important Bill. I thank my right honourable friend in another place, David Davis, and the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, for their stewardship of the Bill, which makes the health service ombudsman more accountable to people taking their complaints to her and, more generally, to Parliament. A productive debate was had in the other place, with support for the Bill from all sides. Speaking for the Government, I hope that we can get the Bill on to the statute book as soon as possible, although I understand that parliamentary time is limited.

The Government very much support the principles that lie behind the Bill. It is a good Bill, and an important one. We are committed to continuing to improve the way in which complaints are handled across the health and social care systems and are actively encouraging the NHS to be more open and receptive to complaints. We remain committed to putting patients first.

Rightly, our focus on giving patients a stronger voice, coupled with reviews such as those by Sir Robert Francis QC and Ann Clwyd MP with Professor Tricia Hart, have raised people’s awareness of their right to complain. If someone is dissatisfied with the NHS services that they have received, it must be right for them to expect that their complaint will be investigated efficiently and effectively. The health service ombudsman investigates, and makes final adjudications on, complaints that individuals have been treated unfairly or have received poor service from the NHS in England. She is the second, independent stage of the NHS complaints arrangements, being independent of both government and the NHS, accountable directly to Parliament. An efficient ombudsman service is therefore vital if we are to deliver the effective complaints service to which NHS patients are entitled.

In response to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, who asked about the prospects for having a more unified and integrated ombudsman service, I would add that the Cabinet Office is reviewing the way in which the public services ombudsmen currently operate. We take complaints about the public services, including the NHS, very seriously. We consider that there is a continuing need to improve the handling of these complaints—in particular, to use information obtained from them to improve service delivery. As part of that work, we have been looking at reform of the public services ombudsmen. Noble Lords will be aware that Robert Gordon, a former director-general in the Scottish Government, has been asked to undertake this review, and the Cabinet Office is hoping to go out to consultation on reform before the end of this Parliament.

Dame Julie Mellor, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, has transformed the way her office works. The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, was absolutely right about that. The circumstances have been challenging, but she has done a good job. There is more openness and transparency in how the office works. The number of complaints investigated by her office has recently greatly increased, and we expect a further rise to be recorded in her 2014-15 annual report. Complaints are generally efficiently reviewed and assessed in a timely manner.

However, certain cases suggest that the ombudsman might benefit from legislative reinforcement in the difficult task of working towards further improvement. The noble Baroness has made reference to the Sam Morrish case. I shall not repeat what she has said; suffice it to say that the family’s experience of the NHS fell well below, and tragically below, an acceptable standard and, unfortunately, so, too, did their experience of taking their complaint to the health service ombudsman. Dame Julie rightly apologised to Mr and Mrs Morrish. In answer to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, I think lessons have been learnt from that case. At the very least, I hope that the health service ombudsman would consider carefully and learn from the Morecambe Bay report where appropriate. It is not possible for me to say more than that; as noble Lords are aware, the ombudsman is independent of government, and it would not be proper for me to do so.

It is still true to say that any unnecessary delay in investigating cases adds to the distress of those involved. NHS complaints often raise personal or sensitive issues. It is important to respond to the person making the complaint as quickly as possible. Reducing unnecessary delay in completing the investigation of a case will reduce the distress of those involved. However, where there are considerable delays of more than 12 months, even if seemingly unavoidable, it is surely right for individual complainants to be told why an investigation has taken so long to conclude. We also think it right for Parliament to be informed, in the ombudsman’s annual report, of how many complainants are kept waiting longer than 12 months for their case to be concluded and, equally importantly, the action being taken to reduce that number.

In summary, this Bill will improve the accountability of the Health Service Commissioner for England to people making a complaint, and to Parliament. The Government fully support these aims, and we fully support the Bill.