§ Earl Howeasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the light of the recent judicial case of Ms B, whether they will advise every National Health Service trust to establish an ethics committee with lay membership. [HL3714]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)A range of options, including the use of clinical ethics committees, is available to trusts to provide ethics support in clinical decision-making. We welcome these developments but have no plans at present to stipulate how such support is provided.
§ Earl Howeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What general lessons have emerged from the recent judicial case of Ms B as regards the handling of difficult ethical decisions by the management of National Health Service Trusts. [HL3715]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe case of Ms B has highlighted again the fundamental importance of the principle of valid consent in treatment decisions and of the need for trusts and practitioners to be aware of the relevant law. To this end, we issued in March 2001 theReference Guide to Consent for Examination or Treatment, together with 12 key points on consent: the law in England, which was sent to all health professionals in England. In October last year we 16WA issued model consent to treatment forms for implementation in April 2002 and a model consent policy which all National Health Service trusts should implement by October 2002.