I welcome Helen Mary's proposals for NHS management and I support her Bill proposal wholeheartedly. As I've said many times in this Chamber, we must ensure health service managers abide by the same obligations as clinical staff. Clinicians are covered by duties of care placed upon them by their royal colleges and the various professional bodies. Managers are an essential part of our modern NHS, and they can often play a role in ensuring the quality of care provided to patients. It is therefore essential that NHS managers belong to a professional body that will help them ensure that there is no room for poor performance or unsafe practices in health service management.

I also welcome measures in the proposed Bill to place a truly independent Healthcare Inspectorate Wales at the heart of a complaints system that puts patients first and ensure they and their families are supported throughout. Placing an explicit duty of candour on NHS managers will hopefully form part of the code of conduct set by the new professional body, ensuring that in future mistakes are seen as learning opportunities and not something to be covered up and evaded. Helen Mary's proposed Bill recognises that our NHS is just as dependent upon managers and administrators as it is upon clinical staff.

We must ensure that those managers and administrators are bound by the same legal duties to the patient as clinical staff. We will never totally eliminate mistakes—we must accept that—but we can ensure that we eradicate unsafe practices and do not reward poor performance. For our NHS to thrive, every part must function well. NHS managers are there to ensure clinical staff have the necessary tools to treat their patients. This proposed Bill will help ensure that healthcare managers have the necessary skills to support clinical staff in a truly patient-first NHS. It has the full support of my group and I look forward to helping Helen Mary in any way I can to ensure its swift passage into law. Diolch yn fawr.