Health and Social Care Act 2008
The Health and Social Care Act received Royal Assent on 22 July 2008. This Act established the new health and adult social care regulator for England, the Care Quality Commission, which assumes responsibility for regulating health and adult social care services in England from April 2009.
The Health and Social Care Bill 2007
The Health and Social Care Act began with the Health and Social Care Bill, which was introduced to the House of Commons on 15 November 2007.
The central proposal of the Health and Social Care Bill was to merge three existing health and social care regulators in England (the Healthcare Commission, the Mental Health Act Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection) into a new, single regulator - the Care Quality Commission.
Amendments to the Bill
Picker Institute Europe had two major concerns about the Health and Social Care Bill, as introduced to Parliament, namely that:
1. There was no clearly stated purpose for the new regulator - nothing to indicate what is was for, or whose best interests it should serve.
2. There was no evidence of the Government's previously stated commitment to patient and service user involvement. In its formal response to a public consultation on 'The Future Regulation of Health and Adult Social Care in England', the Government said that:
The Health and Social Care Bill, however, stated only that:
(a) views expressed by members of the public about activities to which the functions relate,
(b) levels of satisfaction with such activities amongst members of the public ..."
Working closely with Which?, the National Consumer Council (now part of Consumer Focus) and parliamentarians in both Houses, the Picker Institute campaigned successfully for amendments to the Bill, as follows:
Statement of purpose
The Bill was amended, so that Clause 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 states:
(2) The Commission is to perform its functions for the general purpose of encouraging —
(a) the improvement of health and social care services,
(b) the provision of health and social care services in a way that focuses on the needs and experiences of people who use those services ...
(c) the efficient and effective use of resources in the provision of health and social care services....."
Patient and service user involvement
The Bill was amended, so that Clause 4 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 states:
(a) views expressed by or on behalf of members of the public about health and social care services,
(b) experiences of people who use health and social care services and their families and friends,
(c) views expressed by local involvement networks about the provision of health and social care services in their areas."
Clause 5 of the Act also requires the Care Quality Commission to:
(a) promote awareness among service users and carers of its functions,
(b) promote and engage in discussion with service users and carers about the provision of health and social care services and about the way in which the Commission exercises its functions,
(c) ensure that proper regard is had to the views expressed by service users and carers, and
(d) arrange for any of its functions to be exercised by, or with the assistance of, service users and carers."
A further suggested amendment -- to establish a high-level service user panel to advise the Care Quality Commission -- was not adopted.
Reviewing the amendments, Picker Institute Europe raised Two Cheers for the Care Quality Commission in a feature for the Guardian newspaper.