Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill
The Health and Social Care Committee has launched a consultation to inform its scrutiny of the recently introduced Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill. The consultation closes on the 28th June 2024.
The Bill proposes a number of amendments to current law. These are explained in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill. Four provisions are of particular relevance – and in summary, these comprise:
- A commitment to eliminate private profit from the care of children looked after.
- The right to direct payments for some individuals who are eligible for Continuing NHS Healthcare funding.
- The correction of a drafting error concerning the ‘limits of social care’.
- The right of a direct payment recipient to nominate an individual or an organisation to receive and manage the payment on their behalf.
The commitment to eliminate private profit from the care of children looked after.
The Explanatory Memorandum explains that the purpose of this commitment (contained in Part 1 Chapter 1 of the Bill clauses 1 – 13), stating at para 3.24 that the Welsh Government commitment is:
- To see fewer children and young people entering care, by providing the right support at the right time to families going through difficult times.
- For those children who are in care, for them to remain close to home so they can continue to be part of their community. This means putting in place the right type of care for each child: reforming and joining up services for looked after children and care leavers, providing additional specialist support for children with complex needs and better supporting those who care for children. The Explanatory Memorandum explains that the Welsh Government wants these services to be locally based, locally designed and locally accountable.
- For those young people leaving care to feel supported to start to live independently when they are ready and to plan for their future.
Direct Payments and Continuing NHS Healthcare
The Explanatory Memorandum explains (at para 3.52) that the purpose of this provision (contained in Part 2 of the Bill clauses 23 – 25) is to enable the Welsh Ministers to make regulations that enable individual patients to secure services to meet their assessed needs for health care by way of a direct payment, in lieu of receiving services provided or commissioned by the NHS in Wales.
The Explanatory Memorandum states (at para 3.60) that these changes will be implemented in Spring 2026.
Correcting a drafting error to section 47 Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
The Explanatory Memorandum explains (at paras 3.93 – 3.98) that the purpose of this provision (contained in Part 2 of the Bill clause 26) is to ensure that the health services that a local authority can lawfully provide to meet a person’s needs are not only limited to services that are ‘incidental or ancillary to doing something else to meet needs’ but are also ‘of a nature that the local authority could be expected to provide’. The proposed amendment to section 47 will ensure that the 2014 Act contains the full text of the Coughlan [1999 EWCA civ 1871] ‘quantity and quality’ test. The Explanatory Memorandum states (at para 3.97) that the Welsh Government is ‘not aware of any issues arising from this omission’: that it believes the omission has had ‘no impact on the provision of services for domiciliary support, including the second limb of the test would ensure that there was no perceived shift in the limits of a local authority’s power and the boundary between health and social care’.
Direct payments recipients’ nomination rights
The Explanatory Memorandum explains (at para 3.107) that the purpose of this provision (contained in Part 1 Chapter 2 of the Bill clause 20) is to ‘allow local authorities to make direct payments to a person (either a nominated individual or an organisation) where the individual has capacity to consent to the making of a direct payment (or, in the case of an individual under the age of 16, are deemed by a local authority to have sufficient understanding to make an informed decision about consenting to the making of direct payments), and thereby ensure equivalent rights to those currently enjoyed by an adult recipient of a direct payment who lacks capacity where a “suitable person” a nominated individual or an organisation may receive and manage the payment on their behalf.’
The Bill’s progress through Senedd can be tracked by clicking here.
Photograph of ‘Eifl’ by Richard Jones -@lluniaurich
Posted 9 June 2024.