The Health Bill

I have sponsored the following amendments to the Health Bill, the majority of which have been drafted by my Lib Dem colleagues.

NC9 - Powers for coroners and medical examiners to report suspected health system failings.

This new clause requires the Secretary of State to create a standardised framework for them to formally refer suspected health system failings (including systemic issues) directly to the police, the CQC, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the HSSIB, with a duty on coroners to participate. It provides legal protection for those making such referrals.

NC10 - Duty of NHS boards to report medical malpractice

This new clause would introduce a mandatory individual duty for members of NHS and Foundation Trust boards to escalate evidence of systemic medical malpractice to the CQC, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the HSSIB. It also imposes a collective duty on the board to formally refer the trust to regulators if staff raise concerns regarding malpractice.

NC13 - Medical Disinformation

This new clause places a duty on the Secretary of State to publish a strategy to combat anti-vaccine and medical disinformation.

NC14 - Healthwatch funding

This new clause would ensure that Healthwatch England and local Healthwatch organisations are funded to the level estimated by the Department for Health and Social Care in 2013/14.

NC24 - Strategy for provision of Minor Injuries Units and Urgent Treatment Centres in rural areas

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to prepare a strategy for expanding the provision of Minor Injuries Units and Urgent Treatment Centres in rural areas and report on the implementation of the strategy annually.

NC28 - Review of NHS neurodiversity policy

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to review standards of care and health outcomes, amongst other checks, within six months of the Act becoming law.

NC30 - Review into acute stroke support services in rural areas

This new clause requires the Secretary of State to publish a review of acute stroke support services in rural areas.

NC45 - Secretary of State directions relating to early access to medicines

This new clause would give the Secretary of State power to direct integrated care boards, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts, and NHS Advanced Foundation Trusts to implement a scheme to provide early access to medicines to people with life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions.

NC47 - Review of the Early Access to Medicines Scheme

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to commission a review of regime for early and accelerated access to medicines.

NC49 - National Guardian's Office

This new clause will re-establish the National Guardian’s Office.

NC52 - Cancer treatment: waiting times

This new clause would give patients a right under the NHS constitution to start cancer treatment within 62 days of referral and requires the Secretary of State to establish a scheme to deliver this. It also requires the Secretary of State to update the House on progress against the target on or around the time of World Cancer Day.

NC63 - Social Care

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to lay before Parliament plans to reform the social care sector, including free personal care, a cap on care costs and that delivers for family carers.

NC72 - Provision of Minor Injuries Units in Rural Areas

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to expand and safeguard minor injuries units in rural communities with the aim of improving access to urgent care, reducing pressure on major hospitals, and ensuring equitable healthcare provision regardless of geography.

NC82 - Parent mental health and bereavement support duty

This new clause would establish a statutory duty on NHS providers to identify and support the psychological wellbeing of parents, carers and siblings following the diagnosis of a life-threatening childhood condition. It would create a proactive, opt-out family mental health pathway from diagnosis through treatment and, where applicable, bereavement.

NC88 - New Hospital Programme: publication of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) reports

This new clause requires the Secretary of State to publish the criteria, input data and scoring mechanism used to determine the prioritisation of schemes and their allocation to waves within the New Hospital Programme. Whilst the input data was obtained from publicly available sources, the MCDA reports are currently not publicly available.

NC89 - New Hospital Programme: estate failure

This new clause requires the Secretary of State to review whether hospitals experiencing significant estate failure are being appropriately prioritised within the New Hospital Programme, and to ensure that such hospitals are treated with the same urgency as RAAC-affected hospitals.

NC92 - Duty to report on the regulation of cosmetic surgery

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to prepare a report assessing the regulation of cosmetic surgery.

NC110 - Rural access to child and adolescent mental health services

This new clause would improve access to CAMHS in rural areas by supporting locally delivered services and enabling vacant or underused public buildings to be repurposed for community mental health provision.

NC111 - Child and adolescent mental health workforce and service capacity

This new clause would require integrated care boards to assess and address staffing and service capacity in CAMHS, including access to appropriate specialist services.