Lords stages of the Care Bill: Health Provisions

The Care Bill was introduced into the House of Lords in May 2013. It aims to bring together existing care and support legislation and reform the social care system. It also includes reforms to the regulation of health services and care standards, and establishes Health Education England (HEE) and the Health Research Authority (HRA) as statutory non-departmental public bodies.

This note provides an overview of the health provisions in Parts 2 and 3 of the Bill, including developments during the Bill’s Committee and Report Stages in the Lords. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to provide a summary of the most important amendments made.

The clauses in Part 2 of the Bill make provision to reform quality and safety regulation for care providers, providing the Government’s legislative response to the Francis Inquiry into the failings at Mid-Staffordshire Foundation Trust. This includes the introduction of “Ofsted-style rating” for hospitals and care homes, creating a single regime to deal with financial and care failures at NHS hospitals, introducing a duty of candour and making it a criminal offence for care providers to give false and misleading information about their performance.

Provisions in Part 3 of the Bill are intended to strengthen the independence of Health Education England (HEE) and the Health Research Authority (HRA), the bodies recently created to lead national systems for the education and training of health care professionals and to oversee health and social care research.