Agenda item

The Health & Social Care Act 2012 and Regulations recently made under it had changed the way in which the Council scrutinised the work of local NHS bodies, affecting the Council, the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Health OSC) and the scrutiny arrangements that existed jointly with the outer North East London boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest and the County of Essex (in relation to Epping Forest and Brentwood, both of which looked to hospitals in the North East London sector for health services).

The current powers of the Health OSC, as set out in the Constitution, were:

The new Act, and Regulations recently made under it, did not, of themselves, affect that allocation of functions. It was the way in which the functions awee exercised that had changed.

Members were aware that issues affecting the provision of health services tended to attract considerable public interest. Locally, the current and future operation of maternity services and accident & emergency services at Queens Hospital had been matters of major concern and had prompted several debates and resolutions at Council and lead to the only exercise - to date - of the right of referral to the Secretary of State by the Health OSC (acting on its own behalf and jointly with the Health OSCs of Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest and Essex).

Under the new legislation, that referral would have been made on behalf of each Council as a whole rather than by the individual Health OSCs acting on their own initiative.  An express purpose of the provisions in the new Act was to ensure that, in future, no Health OSC could act unilaterally and take a position different to that of its appointing Council.  Although there was no inconsistency between the Health OSC and the view expressed in resolutions by the Council, it appeared that such inconsistencies had occurred elsewhere.  The possibility of that occurring would now be avoided.

The Committee RESOLVED to RECOMMEND to Council that:

(i)         The Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (and any successor OSC) continue to carry out the day-to-day health scrutiny functions

(ii)        Responses to any formal consultation by a health service body be reported to the next convenient meeting of the Council for information and, where necessary, endorsement

(iii)       Where the Health OSC considers that a health service proposal should be referred formally to the Secretary of State, it should report upon the matter to the Council and such referral should be made only by resolution of the Council.

(iv)       The Council continue to participate in the activities of the Outer North East London Joint Health OSC and that the Council’s Joint Health OSC continue to have authority to enter into other Joint Health O&S arrangements as appropriate.

(v)        The functions of the Health OSC be amended by the insertion - after the current description of the OSC’s functions in Section 1.4 of Part 3 of the Constitution of the words:

 “(except any referral to the Secretary of State, which is reserved to the Council by resolution)”