| Health (Wales) Bill
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Hywel Williams: The hon. Gentleman and I are unlikely to agree on the matter; we are setting up a body for Wales. The frame of reference for me is Wales itself, not Wales as a subsidiary part of England. We should respond to health needs in Wales and if we are going to set the gold standard to which the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell referred earlier, it should be a Welsh gold standard. I hope that the Committee will resist the amendment. Mr. Touhig: We have had an unexpectedly wide-ranging debate. I associate the Government with a remark made by the hon. Member for Ribble Valley in respect of the Western Mail story. There can be no one in this Room whose life, or that of their friends or relatives, has not been touched by cancer and any breakthrough is most welcome. I am president of the Cancer Care charity in my constituency, which does wonderful work counselling people who have cancer. Any development that will help people to overcome that awful disease is to be welcomed. I endorse what the hon. Gentleman said in that respect. Julie Morgan: I am sure that my hon. Friend is aware that the discovery was made by staff in the university of Wales medical college in Heath Park in my constituency. Does my hon. Friend agree that following the decision of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to place its collaborative cancer work in Velindre hospital, and the £3.5 million given by the Assembly for radiotherapy treatment in Velindre, Wales is forging ahead in the treatment of cancer and is leading the way in the UK? Mr. Touhig: I welcome that, and endorse what my hon. Friend said. Cancer is an awful disease that knows no boundaries and we welcome whatever can be done to advance its treatment and to find a cure. The amendment seeks to ensure that training standards for health care professionals are uniform throughout the United Kingdom, a matter that was mentioned in the previous sitting on Tuesday, but it misunderstands the nature of the arrangements that the HPW may enter into. Such arrangements will be entered into by agreement with the standard-setting bodies, so the HPW will not be empowered under such arrangements to act in a way that is not acceptable to Column Number: 12 the standard-setting bodies. The HPW may undertake functions on behalf of the standard-setting bodies and in doing so it will apply their standards. The will not be involved directly in setting those standards; its role will be to ensure that UK-wide standards are applied within Wales.The regulatory bodies are responsible for monitoring educational standards in the UK; the Nursing and Midwifery Council has a service level agreement with the HPW to carry out quality assurance activities in Wales on their behalf. There is a similar provision in the Health Professions Council order if they should wish to use the HPW to act on their behalf. The HPW should be able to assess the need for post-registration education and training of professionals according to the work force planning initiatives and the health policy developments in Wales and to support its development. Effective communication channels between the HPW, the NMC and the HPC will be important to ensure that the rules and processes required by the regulatory bodies are understood and implemented in Wales, and that the regulatory bodies know the policies and priorities in provisions for Wales. I accept the point made by the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Hywel Williams) that we are talking about the training standards that need to be applied throughout the United Kingdom. I do not dismiss his arguments, but he is talking about a bolt-on provision that we would have to examine in Wales. I also take the point that there are people in Wales whose first language is neither Welsh nor English, and they also have to be cared for. Obviously, that would be part of any ongoing or additional training. As I said, we are talking about standards that will apply throughout the UK. The HPW will work completely within those arrangements and agreements, so the amendment is unnecessary. Mr. Evans: I am grateful for the Minister's comments and I am reassured. He will understand why we tabled the amendments. We did not want to prevent any health professionals in England from being able to cross over easily if they worked for a time in the health service in Wales, or if they lived on the border but worked in hospitals in Chester or Bristol and in Newport, Cardiff or elsewhere in Wales. I accept the Minister's response to the amendment relating to the Welsh language and culture. We must recognise that, in parts of Wales, there are people who cannot speak English or Welsh and whose culture is completely different. We wish to be able to treat them for whatever ailments they have in the best possible way. That is a bolt-on provision, but an important one that needs to be considered. I accept that, in various parts of Wales, there are still monoglot Welsh people. Welsh is their first language and they do not communicate in their daily lives in anything other than Welsh. In certain cases, if we gave them the gold standard of service described by the hon. Member for Caernarfon, it would be important that that could be done in Welsh, particularly if treating the patient's ailment specifically involved regular communication. If an injection were given, it would be important that Column Number: 13 someone was available to communicate to the person what was happening. In that instance, it might not have to be the health professional who spoke Welsh, particularly if there was a shortage of those health professionals in that part of the country. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is reassured by my comments.Given the Minister's comments, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
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| ©Parliamentary copyright 2002 | Prepared 12 December 2002 |
