Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)

My Lords, my Amendment 144 relates to those tabled by my noble friend Lord Frost, who has made many of the points I was about to make. To add to what my noble friend has said, he used the word “paperwork” all the way through his remarks, and he outlined its importance. The point I would make, over and above what my noble friend has just said, is that the NHS has a notorious reputation with regard to paperwork. How many times have we heard about the loss of patients’ medical records and—as my noble friend just said—that the medical records are inaccurate? Many hours have been spent in this House talking about the digitisation of NHS paperwork. The Bill is an excellent opportunity to say to the NHS—or whoever takes responsibility for this process—that when people go for consultations, they should be done digitally, by which I mean that we do not use a pen and paper. Doctors’ handwriting is notoriously difficult to read; it must be transcribed and digitised by second parties, so mistakes and errors will happen—that is one of the reasons why there are so many errors in medical records. I say briefly to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, that this House should insist that the Bill requires this to be done digitally. When clinicians interview vulnerable people, that should be instantly recorded there and then on a tablet, iPad or computer, which will therefore reduce the number of errors. The paperwork is so important, and this is an opportunity for the NHS to step up to the plate and, of all things, digitise the records for people making the decision to end their life.