21 Dec 2000
The Health and Social Care Bill will provide better protection and improved care for patients throughout the UK, Scotland Office Minister, Brian Wilson said today.
Commenting on the Bill, published today, Brian Wilson said:
"This Bill brings real benefits to Scotland by providing better protection for patients from the risk of being treated by doctors who have been disqualified. It will also extend prescription rights, allowing easier access for patients to the care they need.
"The Government has made it clear that it is committed to patient protection. The Bill will give health authorities in England the responsibility to suspend or remove failing practitioners from their primary care lists. Strong administrative arrangements will be put in place so that these decisions will be communicated to other health providers right across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland. This will ensure that people requiring medical treatment, wherever they happen to be in the country, are helped and protected by the improved procedures brought in by this Bill.
"Other measures in the Bill will directly benefit Scotland. The Bill will abolish the preserved rights to higher levels of income support for people living in nursing or residential care since before 1993 and will transfer this funding and responsibility to local authorities.
"This will deal with the two main concerns about the system of preserved rights: that younger people, for example those with learning difficulties, are locked into residential care, while their needs could be more appropriately met in supported accommodation, and that older people often have to meet a shortfall between the fees charged by homes and the DSS benefit rates.
"The Bill will also remove the current restrictions that prevent councils in England and Wales from making residential care placements in other parts of the UK. This will promote care closer to the patient's home and family.
"The Bill will also provide a power to extend the rights to prescribe medicines to groups of staff other than doctors, dentists and some nurses. This will help to break down professional demarcations, allow other staff groups to develop professional competence, and give patients easier access to the care they need.
"I welcome this Bill which will help build a more flexible NHS, right across the whole of the UK. It is another example of the benefits of being part of the United Kingdom, with all parts of the country working together to improve the provision of front line services."