Health and Care Bill

Robin Millar Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 23rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)]

Forced organ harvesting in China is one of the worst crimes against humanity of the 21st century. That is why I wish to speak to new clauses 24 and 25 in my name. It is a crime that no British citizens should be taking part in, and a crime that humanity has a duty to stop. New clause 24 aims to put a dent in the forced organ harvesting trade. It would prohibit UK citizens from receiving a transplant abroad without the clear consent of the donor. The forced organ trade is a big money business. The organs of a young healthy adult are worth in the region of half to three quarters of a million US dollars. That is money that people would, and do, kill for.

China started with political prisoners, with the religious Falun Gong group being the main source. Now it has moved on to Uyghur Muslims, some Christians and other minority groups. Evidence was heard at the China and Uyghur tribunals that mass DNA testing is taking place in the internment camps in Xinjiang, enough to compile a Uyghur organ database and bank ready for withdrawals on demand. The world might believe that China had an ethnical organ donation system based on the World Health Organisation’s assessment, yet that assessment from the WHO is based on a country’s self-assessment—in this case by the Chinese Communist party. It is a barbaric practice, and every democracy in the world should be looking at what it can do to stop it.

I am grateful to Members from every party across this House for supporting my new clause. It will not stop the trade, but it will show that we in Britain are doing our part and helping to influence other countries to do the same. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Alex Norris) for raising these new clauses in Committee. The Minister sympathised, but expressed certain concerns. He was worried that countries could have a deemed consent system in which everyone was automatically a donor. Deemed consent is acceptable only if people can opt out. Under a new provision, the Secretary of State will assess the deemed consent of each country. The Minister was also concerned that the recipient of an organ could face criminal consequences. It is the duty of a Government to ensure that people are aware of what is a crime, and supporting or funding a crime against humanity must be illegal.

New clause 25 would make imported cadavers require the same consent as bodies sourced from within the UK. The Minister claimed that a revised code of practice covered this, but a code of practice is not law. Surely the sanctity and dignity of the human body demand the power of legislation. I call on the House and this Government to step up and do their part to stop this crime against humanity.

[Robin Millar (Aberconwy) (Con)]

I rise to speak to new clauses 60 and 61 in my name. Simply, they would put patients first. I am thankful to my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) for his comments on new clause 60, but as I do not seek to press it to a Division, I will mention no more of it now.

On new clause 61, let me simply say this: good data is needed for good services. Good data allows professionals and planners to assign resources and guide interventions where they are needed most. Good data allows patients to make informed decisions about where to be treated, or where to live. Good data allows politicians to be held to account when services fail. Therefore, new clause 61, at its simplest, is about collecting and comparing data. It would standardise the publication of a set of UK-wide NHS data and ensure the interoperability of that data.

In Wales, unfortunately, Welsh reporting standards mean that waiting list statistics are not available for most procedures. Before the pandemic, it took a journalistic investigation in north Wales to highlight that patients were waiting for more than two years for hip operations. Constituents now report that they are being told that they face a two-year wait just for a first out-patient clinical appointment. That is distressing and disappointing, and it is simply because data is not available.

We must ask the question, if for want of a nail, the shoe was lost, what are we losing for the want of good data? If the Government are to bring digital transformation into the heart of the NHS, the Minister must know that that heart can only be animated when good data courses through its veins.

In the months I have worked with colleagues on new clause 61, we have heard overwhelming support from patients—they agree. Healthcare professionals, IT experts and administrators have told us that they agree. In fact, I do not believe that the clause would divide the House, in compassion or common sense. I accept, however, that there is a challenge in delivering it and I know that the Government are exploring ways to address that.

I note the Minister’s comments at the start of the debate about close working with the devolved Administrations, and I welcome that.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (Ind)]

I do not question that the hon. Gentleman’s new clause is well intentioned. Does he believe that the standardisation would happen in conjunction with the four Governments working together or, in his view, would the process be driven solely from Westminster?

[Robin Millar]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, which is a good and relevant one, and it speaks directly to the heart of what the Minister said in his opening comments. There is good collaboration and an emerging consensus on this, so I am optimistic that that will be the case. In fact, my concluding remark is to say that I will not press new clause 61 to a Division, but I will listen carefully to the Minister’s response.

[Emma Hardy]

I will be brief, speaking to new clause 32 in my name. It is an amendment based on the proposed Charlie’s law. I thank my dear friend and colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous), who has been working on the issue with the Charlie Gard Foundation and the tireless campaigning of Charlie’s parents.

I will be as brief as I can be. In short, my new clause seeks to do five things: first, to require the Secretary of State to put in place measures to improve early access to mediation services in hospitals where conflict is in prospect; secondly, to provide for access to appropriate clinical ethics committees, so that both doctors and parents are supported in making difficult decisions by impartial ethical experts; thirdly, to provide the means necessary to obtain second medical opinions swiftly and to ensure that, when requested, parents receive access to their child’s full medical data, so that the second opinions are fully informed; fourthly, to provide access to legal aid to ensure that families are not forced to employ costly legal representation or to rely on outside interest groups to fund representation in court; and, finally, to create a new legal test of whether an alternative credible medical treatment would cause a child a disproportionate risk or significant harm in deciding whether a parent is able to seek that treatment for their child.

In essence, the provisions set out in the new clause would mitigate conflicts at the earliest stage, ensure that the voices and opinions of parents are listened to, save hundreds and thousands of pounds for parents, doctors and the NHS in protracted legal battles, and ensure that a critically ill child is given the best care and support available at a crucial time in that child’s life. No parent wants to spend time in court or in battle against the NHS when their child is critically ill. There must be a better way to resolve conflict. I hope that the Minister looks seriously at my new clause 32 and at ways to incorporate it into future legislation.