We do not know what effect proposed changes in the civil justice system will have on access to various forms of legal remedy for consumers of private health care, with changes in the legal system. The current Access to Justice Bill proposes a combination of state funding and conditional fees which has yet to be tried out. It also proposes a new test for determining merit which will take account of availability of resources and the priority the state gives to funding medical negligence cases as opposed to other types of case. We will be giving detailed comments to the government and the Legal Aid Board about the proposed legal aid changes. Using health care products 6.1 Part of the growth in private health care is in the purchase of medicines or equipment.
Similar points apply to care provided by private clinics.
We note that cases regularly appear before the advertising standards authority about misleading claims for clinics and health products. We would welcome examination by the Committee of the extent to which firmer regulation is needed for the advertising of private health care services and products sold on the open market, and the extent to which regulation may be needed about their cost. We have submitted evidence to the Committee in previous Parliaments on our concerns about protecting the interests of people needing long-term nursing care. It proposes a new system of voluntary registration for agencies which provide domiciliary care. The white paper is very weak, however, in its attention to private nursing agencies, saying only that the government is considering how best to deal with their regulation.