Clause 9 - Public Involvement and Consultation
Health and Social Care Bill
6:00 pm
Mr John Denham (Minister of State, Department of Health; Southampton, Itchen, Labour)
Let me concentrate on the specific point raised by the hon. Gentleman. The clause places a general duty on NHS bodies, which needs to be backed up by guidance. In that sense, it is akin to the general duty on quality that was introduced under the previous Act. None the less, it provides the responsibilities under which clinical governance is developed in the NHS.
I had the opportunity earlier to illustrate some of the ways in which a trust might involve patients by seeking their views and reporting on them. Health authorities will need to take a similar flexible approach. Clearly, one of the ways in which they can address such a duty is through the consultation that they will be expected to undertake with the local advisory forum. As was said earlier, we have been non-prescriptive at local advisory forum level. Health authorities throughout the country have already put their toe in the water. For example, Somerset has an advisory forum that brings together health panels in each PCG area. It has a total membership of about 36 people from the localities to discuss the broad direction of the local health economy. Sunderland went a stage further: it has a pool of 350 people on which it calls with a citizens jury-type approach. I understand that the Norfolk health authority's citizens panel comprises about 4,000 people. That illustrates the wide variety of different consultative methods that have been developed by health authorities throughout the country.
I do not believe that one particular model is self-evidently better than the others. We want health authorities, with the support of the Department, to draw on best practice that is already being developed in the country. That may be the way in which the health authority fulfils its obligations under the clause. Everyone accepts that good consultation means flushing out different and difficult points of view. Clearly, a duty to consult is not the same as a duty to take the majority opinion in a straw poll. Health authorities will remain accountable for their decisions, but we shall be helping them to develop consultative structures that enable all the issues to be identified effectively to influence their approach.