The Government responds to stakeholder opinion on the NHS reforms
On 15 December the Department of Health published its response to the consultation on the NHS White Paper.
This publication outlines the Government’s response to public opinion on the NHS reforms and declares how policy will be changed accordingly. Most of the major policy announcements are going ahead, although please find the Department of Health summary of how the proposals will be modified below.
The Department of Health publication states that the Government has decided to:
- Allow a longer and more phased transition period for completing our reforms to providers: for example, retaining some of Monitor’s current controls over some foundation trusts while the new system of economic regulation is introduced.
- Significantly strengthen the role of health and wellbeing boards in local authorities, and enhance joint working arrangements through a new responsibility to develop a “joint health and wellbeing strategy” spanning the NHS, social care, public health and potentially other local services.
- Create a clearer, more phased approach to the introduction of GP commissioning, by setting up a programme of GP consortia pathfinders. This will allow those groups of GP practices that are ready, to start exploring the issues and will enable learning to be spread more rapidly.
- Create a more distinct identity for HealthWatch England, led by a statutory committee within the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
- Increase transparency in commissioning by requiring all GP consortia to have a published constitution.
- Change our proposal that maternity services should be commissioned by the NHS Commissioning Board. This reflects the weight of consultation responses arguing that, in order to focus on local needs, maternity services should be the responsibility of GP consortia, backed by national support to secure improvements in quality and choice.
- Recognise that our original proposal to merge local authorities’ scrutiny functions into the health and wellbeing board was flawed. Instead we will extend councils’ formal scrutiny powers to cover all NHS-funded services, and will give local authorities greater freedom in how these are exercised.
- Phase the timetable for giving local authorities responsibility for commissioning NHS complaints advocacy services, and allow flexibility to commission from other organisations as well as from local Health Watch.
- Give GP consortia a stronger role in supporting the NHS Commissioning Board to drive up quality in primary care.
- Create an explicit duty, for the first time, for all arm’s-length bodies to co-operate in carrying out their functions, backed by a new mechanism for resolving disputes without the Secretary of State having to act as arbiter. In particular, Monitor and the NHS Commissioning Board will have to work jointly in setting prices, rather than have Monitor decide and the Board able to appeal.
The full document is available online at http://bit.ly/e2PNR8.