Health and Social Care Bill

Debate between Baroness Massey of Darwen and Baroness Masham of Ilton

Thursday 15th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 311 and 320. This group of amendments seeks to ensure that the voice of the child is heard in health matters. Too often in Bills that do not relate specifically to children and young people, they are marginalised, yet, as has been said before in debates, child health is a vital aspect of healthcare and children are patients, just like adults. They have opinions just like adults and, in my experience, consulting children about what works for them always results in improved services and policies.

These amendments seek to ensure that HealthWatch England’s functions are clear and explicit in relation to children as well as to others and that its functions in providing advice to the Secretary of State, the NHS Commissioning Board and monitoring authorities on the views of patients and members of the public refer to the views of children, who are patients and members of the public.

Local healthwatch functions must also promote and support patient and public involvement in the commissioning, provision and scrutiny of local care services and must obtain the views of patients and the public about people’s needs for and experience of local care services. I submit that those functions must be carried out to include children. HealthWatch England must provide support and assistance to local HealthWatch organisations in relation to this.

Furthermore, as noble Lords may know, Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child makes clear that children have a right to be heard on issues that affect them. Measures to promote patient and public involvement in decisions about their own care and in the development of health services and care services must include children from the start. I believe that this will make for better health services.

The Bill does not make this clear enough. Research commissioned by the NCB has found that local involvement networks or LINks, which the Bill will transform into local healthwatch, are not always clear that children and young people are part of their remit. Local healthwatch and HealthWatch England will need to be able to identify capacity and maintain the skills to reach out to and engage children, including the most vulnerable children and their families.

A recent review of law, policy and practice in relation to children’s participation in the NHS and other public services and settings found that, in their efforts to support user involvement, the health authorities and NHS trusts had not specifically identified children as service users. The review also found that although 41 per cent of GP practices reported to have a patient participation group there was no evidence of children’s active engagement in these forums. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has argued that reforms have been lacking in providing the structures and frameworks where children and young people are properly represented. And concerns about children’s involvement in patient and public voice mechanisms were also reflected in the report of the NHS Future Forum. In 2009-10 Professor Sir Ian Kennedy carried out a review of how the NHS delivers to children and recommended a local partnership in each local authority that would co-ordinate public services in the best interests of children. His ambition was that,

“the welfare and well-being of children and young people, seen as so important by so many, will be the prevailing cultural approach”.

My amendments here try to make clear that children are within the remit of local HealthWatch and HealthWatch England and that children’s and young people’s views should be heard. I beg to move.

[Baroness Masham of Ilton]

My Lords, I support these very important amendments. One only has to remember the tragedy of Baby P and all those vulnerable children who sometimes fall between the police, the social services and the health departments.