Councils get formal health advisory role
Author: Kaye Wiggins, LGC |
Chief executives and senior directors will sit on NHS panels advising on whether commissioning groups (CCGs) should be authorised.
The panels, which will also include senior NHS Commissioning Board figures and clinical leaders, will play a key role in CCG authorisation. They will produce a report for the NHSCB to consider when deciding whether to authorise a CCG.
The LGA has written to chief executives and senior directors, asking them to volunteer to sit on the panels. It will not be mandatory for every panel to include a local government representative, but they will be entitled to a seat on each one.
However, they cannot sit on the panels that assess the CCGs in their own local authority area. LGA adviser Tom Shakespeare told LGC this was important for “neutrality” purposes and because it was helpful to have an outside perspective, adding that it was not prompted by fears of a conflict of interest.
Mr Shakespeare said about 30 chief executives and senior directors had so far agreed to sit on the panels, and 60 would be needed to cover all 212 panels, committing to about four each.
Graham Burgess, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen BC told LGC he had agreed to take on the role. “I’ll be actively encouraging CCGs to look at the business case for sharing services with the local authority, including accommodation, research, PR, HR and legal services,” he said.
“It’s a CCG’s own decision whether to use the NHS commissioning support organisations or to share with the local authority, but I expect them to explore the options.
“I think the rationale for not having council chief executives assessing CCGs in their own area is to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest that this could cause,” he said.
Mr Burgess said his main criterion for supporting a CCG would be a clear demonstration of plans for integrated commissioning of certain services, such as mental health and learning disability services, with the local authority. “I’d raise a lot of challenges around that,” he said.
David White, chief executive of Norfolk CC, has also offered to sit on the panels. “Local authorities are being hard-wired into the NHS agenda under the health reforms, through the public health transfer and health and wellbeing boards,” he said.
“Sitting on the CCG panels will take up quite a lot of time, but it is time well spent. This is an important agenda.”
The NHSCB’s agreement to give senior council figures the role was made after negotiations with the Local Government Health Transition Task Group, which includes representatives from the LGA, Solace, London Councils, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.