NHS Accountability

9. What steps he is taking to improve accountability in the NHS.

The Health Bill, which is going through Parliament now, will restore clear accountability to the NHS. By abolishing NHS England, we are ending the confusion created by having two separate centres. Responsibility for national decision making will be brought back to Government, while local leaders will be empowered to deliver for their local communities.

Accountability in the NHS must run down to the patient as well as to Parliament. Local Healthwatch organisations provide an independent voice when services fall short. What safeguards will the Secretary of State put in place to ensure that, as their functions are moved to the integrated care board and local authority, patients in Bolton South and Walkden will retain a genuine independent route to raise concerns? As the Local Government Association has warned, we cannot leave the NHS to mark its own homework.

I think it is fair to say that while Healthwatch has in some areas played an important role, it has fundamentally separated those listening to patients from those who have the power to make changes. Our reforms in the Health Bill will put patient voice at the heart of shaping services. Those responsible for commissioning services will hear directly from patients, service users and local people. ICBs will be required to publish an annual statement of how they have gathered feedback and what actions they have taken, while the new patient experience directorate in the Department of Health and Social Care will ensure that patient insight directly shapes national policymaking.

The Secretary of State knows of my concern about the lack of accountability to bereaved parents, because trust lawyers advise trusts to ignore their duty of candour when there is the prospect of legal action. I was hoping to get this addressed through an amendment to the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, but it looks like that amendment will not be voted on. Will the Secretary of State address this issue in the Health Bill so that parents know that they can be sure that trusts will always tell the truth after a tragedy?

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising that important point. While I understand that the amendments he tabled will not be voted on today, they raise an important issue that I will continue to look further into. With the Hillsborough law now due to have its Commons stages completed today and then go over to the Lords, I very much hope that it will be in law as soon as possible, which means that we can apply the duty of candour to future maternity services reviews such as those in Leeds and Sussex. The situation that we had in Nottingham, where senior leadership refused to take part in the inquiry under way, was totally unacceptable and must never happen again.