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OSC Regional Events |
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Introduction
Have your say on a review of health overview and scrutiny In brief: The Government wants to help support the improvement of the scrutiny of local health services. The Department of Health is about to launch a review to establish how local authority overview and scrutiny committees and the NHS can work more effectively together to achieve better, safer, modernised health services. A number of regional events are being held to find out people’s thoughts and ideas about how this can be achieved. See below for more about the review and how people can get involved. The current policy: Almost six years ago, local authority overview and scrutiny committees (OSCs) were given the power to scrutinise local health services. There is strong evidence that these powers have helped to improve both the quality of services, as well as the experience of people who use them. However, since the powers were implemented, NHS organisations, health services and local authorities have changed substantially. This means that the policy and the related guidance for OSCs and the NHS needs to be updated, e.g. to recognise the advent of Foundation Trusts, reflect the new roles of Strategic Health Authorities and PCTs and to take into account policies such as World Class Commissioning . The review: In November, the Department of Health will start the process of asking people and organisations for their ideas on how we can build on the achievements of health overview and scrutiny and address any challenges that exist. The discussion will also look at the growing challenges around joint scrutiny and the need for a number of OSCs and NHS organisations to work together in different ways. The information collected will be used to help develop amendments to the current policy and guidance and a consultation will be held on these in the Spring of 2009. Issues that the review might look at: Changes that have been made in the role of NHS organisations: The guidance needs to be updated to take into account the introduction of Foundation Trusts and changes to the remit of Strategic Health Authorities, as well as Primary Care Trusts. Increased collaboration by OSCs : The increased commissioning of services that cross local authority boundaries means that overview and scrutiny committees are working more in partnership. Although this is a positive development, it can make consultations more complex and increase the amount of time that it takes to get a decision – both of which can affect the delivery of local services Recommendations from the NHS Next Stage Review: The Next Stage Review makes a number of recommendations about how the process of health overview and scrutiny can be improved. Commitments were made to raise the standard of evidence for change; to ensure local decision making is more transparent and clinically led; to streamline the process of change; and, to improve the evidence base for change. Reference was also made to the inclusion of a ‘mediation’ process for joint committees that are unable to reach consensus. Having your say We want to hear the views of individuals and groups who have an interest in this area. We will be talking to a number of national organisations. We are also holding a number of regional events so local councillors, health service staff, service user organisations and other interested parties can share their experience and have their say. The events will be an opportunity for participants to hear about some of the ideas that have been suggested to improve the health scrutiny process, and to put forward their own ideas. Event dates
How to register: Places for the events are limited. You can register by clicking here and completing the online booking form.
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