Care Bill [Lords]

Debate between Jeremy Lefroy and Nick de Bois

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nick de Bois]

Yes, indeed. Again, I am trying to be as balanced as I can. I recognise that no single institution can stand in isolation, and I think that that is broadly accepted. However, to make decisions within 40 days on institutions, when we do not know which institutions will be affected or how they will be affected, is demanding too much of a service that is so valued by the public.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

Does my hon. Friend accept that there are some extremely important issues that cannot be resolved in 40 days, or even 400 days? For instance, the royal colleges are prescribing services that require more and more consultants to run rotas, which means that in district general hospitals it becomes even less possible to provide these kinds of services. These things are taken out of the hands even of politicians.

[Nick de Bois]

Indeed. My hon. Friend makes his point very well and I bow to his superior judgment.

I am also concerned about a point that was raised earlier. As everyone knows, I have absolutely no clinical or medical background, and it has always come as a surprise to me that I have spent so much of my time in the Chamber talking about these subjects. In business, there is a fairly simple calculation that assesses the solvency of a business; the strict definition is if someone is not able to meet their liabilities or knows that they are not able to do so in the short term, they are considered insolvent. They then go into administration and the processes kick in.

We are talking about a very different picture here in which a judgement has to be made about institutions that may or may not be considered unfit to continue. Under those circumstances—however much I accept that there are good intentions and not the devious plots that are being suggested—it means that much is left open to doubt. Therefore, it is with a very heavy heart that I will be on the other side when we go into the Lobby—when I have worked out which side that is. But I do so based on my 10 years of experience of what has been a very difficult exercise in my constituency.