More control given to councils to scrutinise changes to local healthcare

Press release MORE CONTROL GIVEN TO COUNCILS TO SCRUTINISE CHANGES TO LOCAL HEALTHCARE New measures coming in to force in April 2013 will mean that any changes to the local healthcare

services will be more locally led and transparent to patients. This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government The Health and Social Care Act

2012 will set up a health service that works around patients and meets the health and care needs of local communities. The Act gives local authorities greater flexibility and freedom by

giving health scrutiny functions to the local authority itself rather than to overview and scrutiny committees. It also extends the scope of health scrutiny to include all NHS and public

health services.  Scrutiny arrangements therefore need to change to take account of these changes. Following on from a Department of Health consultation held between July and September, new

regulations on local authority health scrutiny are being prepared to ensure that any changes to local healthcare are more transparent, and overseen and considered locally. These new

arrangements build on the existing system including: * extending scrutiny to all providers of NHS care, whether they are from a hospital, a charity or an independent provider * requiring

organisations proposing substantial service changes and the local authorities scrutinising those proposals to publish clear timescales for decision-making, so patients know when they can

expect changes * requiring local authorities to take account of the financial sustainability of services when considering whether to make any changes * and seeking the help of the NHS

Commissioning Board in liaising with local authorities and commissioners to secure local agreement on some service reconfigurations Health Minister Lord Howe said: “The Health and Social

Care Act is focused on the needs of each member of the public, ensuring that their needs are considered. We want them to be at the heart of planning, delivery and any changes to healthcare

services. “Updating the way these plans are scrutinised and held to account is essential if we want to get the best services for each local area. I would like to thank all those who took

part in the consultation, who have helped us build a strong set of proposals.” NOTES TO EDITORS: To see the consultation response, please follow this link. SHARE THIS PAGE The following

links open in a new tab * Share on Facebook (opens in new tab) * Share on Twitter (opens in new tab) UPDATES TO THIS PAGE Published 14 December 2012