Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Wednesday 9th June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Alderdice]

My Lords, the immediate response of my honourable friend Norman Lamb in the other place to the 2009 Healthcare Commission report was to call for a public inquiry. My noble colleague the Minister can be absolutely confident of the warm welcome on these Benches to the decision to have a public inquiry, a request that was refused by the previous Government. One has to suspect that it was refused because of the likelihood of exposing the inadequacies not just of a particular hospital and trust board but of the regulatory system that had been put in place and the culture of target and finance-driven managerialism that the previous Government championed.

I am sure that the noble Earl expects that this will be exposed in the public inquiry, but is it not important that we should not only protect whistleblowers—he has announced important developments in that regard—but address the whole culture that regarded professionals and commissions raising questions and concerns as troublesome and disloyal rather than as wanting to improve the standards and quality of the service? What is needed is a change in the culture, so that the views of clinicians of all professions are valued, welcomed and encouraged. The priority of managers is not to dominate the service and to impose politically driven targets but to provide it with high levels of patient care.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I agree wholeheartedly with my noble friend that in many parts of the NHS we need a culture change—a culture that puts patients first. We need an NHS that listens to patients and responds to their concerns and needs. We must prioritise the people whom the NHS serves and we must listen to the doctors and nurses who work in it. The measures that we are taking today on whistleblowing are important. Last week, we began to publish more transparent data about the NHS so that people can hold their local services to account in a more meaningful way. We are looking also at reducing the number of hospital readmissions, as I am sure my noble friend is aware.

The culture change that is needed will not happen in a hurry and I would not want to give the impression that it is required everywhere in the NHS. Mid Staffordshire was an unusual event, but unless we get to the bottom of why it happened there must be a fear that it may happen again. As we move forward and propose to Parliament changes in the way in which the NHS is regulated and care is commissioned, we must not lay ourselves open to unintended traps. I therefore concur with all that my noble friend said. I think that he will find, as we bring forward our proposals, that the emphasis on transparency, openness and the patient’s voice will do much to address the concerns raised.