NHS: Clinical Senates

House of Lords written question – answered at on 24 February 2014.

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Photo of Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Shadow Spokesperson (Health), Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords

To ask Her Majesty’s Government who are the chairs and members of each of England’s National Health Service clinical senates.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many meetings each of England’s clinical senates had in 2013; and whether any of those were held in public.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the budgets for each of England’s clinical senates in 2013; and whether details of their expenditure will be recorded and made public.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how clinical senates are embracing the views of those who work in the health service who are not doctors.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the budget of each of the four National Health Service clinical networks.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the impact the work of the four National Health Service clinical networks on clinical commissioning groups and others in 2013.

Photo of Earl Howe Earl Howe The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health

NHS England has established clinical senates in 12 geographical areas to be a source of independent, strategic advice and guidance to commissioners and other stakeholders to assist them to make the best decisions about healthcare for the populations they represent.

They have a multi-professional membership to ensure clinical representation encompasses the breadth of professions. This includes nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, as well as doctors. Membership encompasses the ‘birth to death’ spectrum of National Health Service care and also includes patient representatives.

A full membership list for each of the 12 clinical senates, including Chairs, has been placed in the Library.

Clinical senates are comprised of a core Clinical Senate Council and a wider Clinical Senate Assembly or Forum. The number of meetings held by each of the 12 clinical senates in 2013 is shown in the following table. NHS England has advised that none of these meetings were held in public.

Clinical Senate Meetings in 2013
London Four*
West Midlands Four*
East Midlands Two*
East of England Three, plus one stakeholder day
Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria One launch event
Cheshire and Merseyside None, as the Clinical Senate is still in the early stages of development
Northern England One
Yorkshire and Humber None (first meeting scheduled for 7 March 2014)
South West Two
South East Three
Thames Valley One
Wessex Two

*These were specified by NHS England as being meetings of the Clinical Senate Council.

There are 12 Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs), which are aligned to Clinical Senate geographical regions. They are managed by 12 'host' Area Teams with oversight by the Area Team Medical Director and Area Team Director. Established in 2013, the SCNs serve key areas of major health and wellbeing challenge.

NHS England has identified four priority service areas for SCNs, which can also be referred to as 'clinical networks'. These are:

Cardiovascular (including cardiac, stroke, renal and diabetes);Maternity, Children and Young People;Mental Health, Dementia and Neurological Conditions; andCancer.

The size of each is locally determined, based on patient flows and clinical relationships and each region may develop other clinical networks depending on local need. The networks have been developing priorities in conjunction with their stakeholders which include all commissioners (clinical commissioning group (CCG) and specialised commissioning), providers, third sector and patients.

Work plans for the four clinical areas have been aligned with CCG plans to deliver maximum impact and the clinical networks have provided clinical support and advice on related issues. They are also leading work to inform areas of specialised commissioning. Clinical advice is being made available to support the development of CCGs’ two year operational plans and five year strategic plans.

NHS England has advised that there has been no formal assessment of impact of the networks to date. However, there is an oversight group for each SCN and this monitors progress against the SCN annual plans, which were signed off in 2013.

NHS England allocates combined funding for Clinical Senates and SCNs in each of the 12 regions. It is not possible to determine the budget for each of the four priority service areas, as resources are shared at the regional level. The following table shows the combined 2013 budgets for Clinical Senates and Strategic Clinical Networks by geographical region.

Geographical Region Running Costs Programme Costs Total
London £210,593 £5,251,979 £5,465,572
West Midlands £833,000 £3,433,000 £4,266,000
East Midlands £819,396 £2,824,715 £3,644,111
East of England £843,057 £3,572,600 £4,406,657
Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria £833,000 £2,606,000 £3,439,000
Cheshire and Merseyside £833,000 £1,447,000 £2,280,000
Northern England £833,000 £1,879,000 £2,712,000
Yorkshire and Humber £833,000 £3230,000 £4,063,000
South West £893,682 £2,931,700 £3,825,382
South East £832,999 £2,727,339 £3,560,338
Thames Valley £868,080 £1,481,493 £2,349,573
Wessex £812,225 £1,786,086 £2,598,311

Notes:

1. Running costs include any cost incurred that is not a direct payment for the provision of healthcare or healthcare related services. Examples include business support services, the provision of policy advice, cost of accommodation and office services.

2. Programme costs include any costs that relate to direct payments for the provision of healthcare or healthcare related services. Examples of programme costs for the senates and networks include the work being done on cancer, maternity, children's health, cardiovascular (cardiac, stroke, renal, diabetes), mental health, dementia and neurosciences.

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