Health and Care Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-26
Topic: Health
Joan Walmsley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I will be as brief as I can. I have a few words about some of the amendments in this wide-ranging group Amendment 243 would protect the title "nurse". I know from family members that the qualification of registered nurse is always hard won, the result of very hard work. It involves rigorous basic training, often followed by further training in a specialty such as mental health nursing or surgery. The title provides a high level of trust among patients and the general population, because we know that a nurse must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, or a different responsible body for dental or veterinary nurses. There should therefore be clarity about who can use the title, and it could be sorted out very simply by the Minister—I hope he will do it A further anomaly, which the Minister can easily sort out in his reply, is that of the appointment of surgeons. I hope he will remove that anomaly as well I commend the work of my noble friend Lord Sharkey on rare diseases. I will not repeat what he said about what is needed, but I hope the Minister can give him some assurance I strongly support Amendment 266 on the need for a register for those who practise aesthetic non-surgical interventions. I will not repeat what my noble friend Lady Brinton and others have said about the reasons for this Amendment 293 requires a special register for cosmetic surgery. It is important that we have an up-to-date, comprehensive and rigorous method of assessing and registering the qualifications of surgeons safely to carry out cosmetic surgery. The question is: how is that done? I have received a briefing from the GMC, which tells me that it does not support the creation of a separate register for cosmetic surgery practitioners. Instead, the GMC believes that its proposal to move to a single GMC register that includes all doctors, anaesthesia associates and physician associates, and special annotation with work to develop relevant credentials, will provide additional assurance beyond that which could be provided by a separate additional register We are told that something better is coming down the track and that the forthcoming regulatory reform programme is intended to rationalise and streamline registration across all the UK healthcare regulators, and will allow the GMC to deliver an accessible, flexible and discretionary registration framework for all registrant groups. That is why the GMC believes that that will provide greater flexibility to develop and amend registration rules and improve its ability to innovate. Given the rapid development of new spheres of medicine and practices, such flexibility could be advantageous I understand that the GMC is now developing credentials with royal colleges and health education bodies, and that the first group of those is led by one on cosmetic surgery, plus four other disciplines. So, while I heartily agree with the intention of Amendment 293, I ask the Minister: when will the regulatory reform mentioned in the GMC briefing be completed? When will Parliament be able to see it and, in the meantime, how can we be assured that the current system gives the assurance on patient safety that is required? I too support the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, on hospital catering and I too will resist giving my anecdote.