Health and Social Care Act 2012
House of Lords
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench)
To ask Her Majesty's Government, under the provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, how the board of a clinical commissioning group will receive local secondary care expertise to inform commissioning decision-making at a local level.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, under the provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, clinical commissioning groups will be required to use local expertise in secondary care to inform the commissioning of NHS services at the local level.
Earl Howe (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Quality), Health; Conservative)
Each clinical commissioning group (CCG) must have a governing body, which will have the role of ensuring the CCG exercises its functions effectively, efficiently, economically and with good governance. Its membership must include at least one secondary care specialist who should have no conflict of interest in relation to the CCG's responsibilities. For example, they should not be from a local provider. The role of the secondary care specialist is to provide an independent perspective, informed by their expertise and experience. They are likely to play an important role in making sure that the CCG has effective systems in place for involving a range of healthcare professionals in decision-making.
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 places a duty on CCGs to obtain appropriate advice from a broad range of health and care professionals to enable them to discharge their functions effectively. This would include those with expertise in local secondary care. This could involve, for example, a CCG employing or otherwise retaining healthcare professionals to advise the CCG on commissioning decisions for certain services, or appointing professionals to any committee that the CCG may set up to support commissioning decisions. It could also involve accessing advice from clinical senates and networks.