§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will revise the regulations in respect of the Registered Homes Act 1984 to(a) extend a person's right to make a complaint to cover all residential and nursing homes in the private and public sectors and (b) require registration authorities to set out a model complaints procedure for use by homes within each registration area, to include a formal appeal mechanism to be used where complaints cannot be resolved satisfactorily after reasonable discussion with the home; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. BowisPrivate and voluntary residential care homes are required by law to operatate their own complaints procedures and to tell residents how they can make complaints to the registration authority. People in local authority homes and people in independent nursing and residential care homes, whose place there was arranged by a local authority, have access to the statutory social services complaints procedures. National health service patients in nursing homes can make use of NHS complaints procedures.
I have no current plans to revise these procedures.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will introduce legislation to prevent the offering of financial inducements by private nursing homes to general practitioners to refer patients to those homes.
§ Mr. SackvilleWe have no current plans to do so.