Introduction
A new power for local government in England to review and
scrutinise health services came into law on 1 January 2003. This
applies to all county, metropolitan, London borough, and unitary
councils who have social services responsibilities. This power
gives these councils’ overview and scrutiny committees the power to
review, scrutinise and report on local NHS health provision on
behalf of local people.
As a local authority with social services responsibilities, Bath
& North East Somerset Council therefore now has the power to
scrutinise Health Services.
The Council’s role
Elected Councillors on the Healthier Communities &
Older People panel examine the running and planning of
local health services and call NHS managers to give information
about decisions they make.
The Councillors’ role, as representatives of the public, is to
hold to account the local Health organisations when they are making
big decisions about the future of health care provision in Bath
& North East Somerset.
Our approach to Health Scrutiny
In considering its role, the Panel has emphasised that it
intends to provide strategic rather than detailed involvement in
local health issues – the emphasis being on the ‘overview’ rather
than ‘scrutiny’ function.
In terms of process, where Bath & North East
Somerset undertakes review based work for health
scrutiny, it will follow the same methodology employed in
other reviews. That is to undertake an evidence
based investigation of a particular health issue through a project
managed approach leading to a final report that makes
recommendations to the NHS organisation under review. These
reports can also be escalated to the Secretary of State for
Health.
Some Health Scrutiny Reviews are undertaken as a joint
reviews with our neighbouring authorities. A Joint Health
Scrutiny Review into services at Keynsham Hospital was undertaken
in 2005-2006 by Councillors from Bath & North East
Somerset, Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire.
The Panel does not wish to be a first point of call to deal with
individual, group or neighbourhood issues. The other Patient Advice
Liaison services (PALS) are more suitable for this function and
have the ability to refer issues to the Health overview &
scrutiny panel if necessary.
