Lord Saatchi has handed over the former Medical Innovation Bill to Chris Heaton-Harris, MP for Daventry.
Mr Heaton-Harris will be taking a new version of the Bill through Parliament as his own, private member’s bill.
He has renamed it the The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill. This Bill is inspired by elements of the former Medical Innovation Bill.
However, it is not the same Bill.
It is likely to contain significant differences and it will be amended as it proceeds through Parliament.
Lord Saatchi has not been part of the process of drafting the new Bill. However, if asked to shepherd the Bill through the Lords, Lord Saatchi will do so.
The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill has its second reading in the House of Commons on 16th October 2015 and we ask that you lend it your support.
Chris Heaton-Harris writes:
“The second reading of my Private Member’s Bill, Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill, will be taking place in the House on the 16th October 2015.
“I am writing to ask to you to help me get my Bill through this stage by contacting your local MP and requesting their attendance and support.”
“My Bill’s influence is derived from Lord Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill, which was introduced in the House of Lords during the last Parliament.
“The terrible loss that Lord Saatchi suffered inspired his own Bill, the central idea of which I most fully support – that being to encourage doctors to pursue responsible innovation in medical treatment.”
More detail on the new Bill
“My Bill has quite clearly departed from the Medical Innovation Bill, and now seeks to promote access to innovative medical treatments in two key ways,” continues Chris Heaton-Harris.
“(1) by giving the permissive power to the Secretary of State for Health to create a database of medically innovative treatments.
“The database will give doctors a source of information on medical innovations, providing an evidence base and sharing platform for innovation.
“It will also increase transparency in innovative treatment decisions by recording the treatment and its outcomes. Centrally, this includes both successes and failures.
” And 2) to encourage responsible innovation by alleviating confusion and confirming in legislation that a doctor will not be negligent when departing from standard practice, if they have acted responsibly.
“The Bill sets out a series of steps that doctors can take to evidence that they have acted responsibly, including seeking support from a ‘responsible body’ of medical opinion, thus reflecting the current common law Bolam test as closely as possible.
“The Bill does not replace the common law test, but does provide a way for doctors to evidence they have acted responsibly when innovating, prior to the point of treatment, increasing a doctors confidence to suggest an innovative treatment.
READ the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill on its parliamentary page.
I would be grateful if you could share with me any examples you have of a time when medical innovation has been hampered by a lack of data sharing, or when the above database and / or negligence clause would have been helpful.
Thank you,
Chris Heaton-Harris
chris.heatonharris.mp@parliament.uk