Schedule 1 - Constitution of public benefit corporations
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
4:30 pm
Ms Hazel Blears (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (public health), Department of Health; Salford, Labour)
The constitution. Under paragraph 7, that is the minimum requirement that we would expect in the constitution. Under paragraph 12(2):
''The constitution may make further provision about the board.''
Those are the minimum requirements.
The hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) raised concerns about the military constituency that can be served by some medical defence units. I have already mentioned paragraph 12(2): that would allow partner organisations locally to take a place on the board to ensure that it fully represents the communities it serves. It would be possible for that to happen.
Some organisations have dealings with various PCTs. Whereas Walsall and York hospitals have service level agreements with only one PCT, Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS trust and City Hospitals Sunderland trust have from three to five service level agreements. The Queen Victoria hospital in East Grinstead and the Marsden have 30 and 34 service level agreements respectively. We have already discussed the Moorfields eye hospital, where more than 1 per cent. of activity is for nine PCTs and between 0.1 and 1 per cent. is for a further 50. Some services are provided to 133 PCTs. That is how varied the relationships can be. Nevertheless, it is correct to say that there should at least be one, and that, subsequently, that should be a matter for the constitution of the NHS foundation trust. There will be consultation with local partners and the local community before it is authorised. Again, that is subject to a general check: it must have support from local organisations before it can be advanced formally.