Health and Social Care Bill

Health and Social Care Bill - continued	House of Commons
PART I, NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE - continued
Scrutiny of health service provision - continued

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Patients' Forums: entry and inspection of premises.

12. - (1) The Secretary of State may make regulations requiring-

(a) Health Authorities,

(b) Primary Care Trusts,

(d) persons providing services under Part II of the 1977 Act or under arrangements under section 28C of that Act,

to allow members of a Patients' Forum authorised by or under the regulations to enter and inspect, for the purposes of any of the Forum's functions, premises owned or controlled by them.

(2) The regulations may in particular make provision as to-

(a) cases and circumstances in which access is to be permitted;

(b) limitations or conditions to which access is to be subject.

Patients' Forums: annual reports.

13. - (1) Every Patients' Forum shall-

(a) prepare a report in relation to its activities in each financial year; and

(b) as soon as possible after the end of each financial year, send a copy of its report for that year to the trust for which it is established, and to the Secretary of State.

(2) A report under this section relating to any year must include details of the arrangements maintained by the Forum in that year for obtaining the views of patients.

Patients' Forums: supplementary.

14. - (1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make further provision in relation to Patients' Forums.

(2) The regulations may in particular make provision as to-

(a) the appointment of members;

(b) any qualification or disqualification for membership;

(d) circumstances in which a person is to cease to be a member or may be suspended;

(e) the proceedings of Patients' Forums;

(f) the discharge of any function of a Patients' Forum by a committee of the Forum or by a joint committee appointed with another Forum;

(g) the appointment, as members of a committee or joint committee, of persons who are not members of the Forum or Forums concerned;

(h) the funding of Patients' Forums and the provision of premises, other facilities and staff;

(i) the payment of travelling and other allowances to members of a Patients' Forum or of a committee of a Forum or a joint committee of two or more Forums (including attendance allowances or compensation for loss of remunerative time);

(j) the inclusion of annual accounts of a Patients' Forum in those of a Health Authority;

(k) the provision of information to a Patients' Forum by the trust for which it is established, including descriptions of information which are or are not to be provided;

(l) the preparation and publication of reports by Patients' Forums (including the publication of reports under section 13);

(m) matters to be included in any such report;

(n) the furnishing and publication by trusts and Health Authorities of comments on reports or recommendations of Patients' Forums.

(3) The regulations must secure that the members of a Patients' Forum include-

(a) at least one person who is a member or representative of a voluntary organisation whose purpose, or one of whose purposes, is to represent the interests of-

(i) persons for whom services are being provided under the 1977 Act, or

(ii) persons who provide care for such persons, but who are not employed to do so by any body in the exercise of its functions under any enactment; and

(b) at least one person for whom services are being or have been provided by the trust for which the Patients' Forum is established.

(4) The regulations may include provision applying, or corresponding to, any provision of Part VA of the Local Government Act 1972 (access to meetings and documents), with or without modifications.

(5) In Part II of Schedule 5A to the 1977 Act (constitution and membership of Primary Care Trusts), after paragraph 4 there shall be inserted-

" 4A. One of the members of a Primary Care Trust under paragraph 4(c) above shall be a person appointed by the Patients' Forum for the trust."

(6) In section 5 of the 1990 Act (NHS trusts)-

(a) after subsection (5) there shall be inserted-

"(5A) One of the non-executive directors of an NHS trust shall be a person appointed by the Patients' Forum for the trust.", and

(b) in subsection (7)(b), before "any" there shall be inserted "(subject to subsection (5A) above)".

Abolition of Community Health Councils in England.

15. - (1) The Community Health Councils established for districts in England under section 20 of the 1977 Act are abolished.

(2) That section shall cease to have effect in its application to the area of any Health Authority in England and to any Community Health Council established for a district in England.

(3) The Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales ("ACHCEW") established under paragraph 5 of Schedule 7 to the 1977 Act is also abolished.

(4) The National Assembly for Wales has as respects Wales the same power under that paragraph as it would have if no such body had been established.

(5) The Secretary of State may by order make provision-

(a) as to the transfer to a person falling within subsection (6), on or after the abolition of a Community Health Council by subsection (1), of any of the rights or liabilities of a person as a member or former member of the Council,

(b) as to the transfer to a person falling within subsection (6) or to the National Assembly for Wales of any of the property, rights or liabilities of ACHCEW.

(6) The following fall within this subsection-

(a) the Secretary of State,

(b) a Health Authority,

(d) an NHS trust,

(e) a Primary Care Trust.

(7) Before exercising the power conferred by subsection (5)(b) the Secretary of State shall consult the National Assembly for Wales.

Power to abolish Community Health Councils in Wales.

16. - (1) The National Assembly for Wales may by order-

(a) abolish the Community Health Councils established for districts in Wales under section 20 of the 1977 Act;

(b) make provision as to the transfer to any person, on or after the abolition of a Community Health Council under paragraph (a), of any of the rights or liabilities of a person as a member or former member of the Council.

(2) The Secretary of State or, in relation to Wales, the National Assembly for Wales, may make such amendments or repeals in any Act or subordinate legislation as appear to him or it to be necessary or expedient in consequence of an order under subsection (1).

Intervention powers

Intervention orders.

17. - (1) After section 84 of the 1977 Act there shall be inserted-

"Intervention orders.	84A. - (1) If the Secretary of State-
	(a) is of the opinion that a body to which this section applies is not performing one or more of its functions adequately or at all, or that there are significant failings in the way the body is being run, and
	(b) is satisfied that it is appropriate for him to intervene under this section,
	he may make an order under this section in respect of the body (an "intervention order").
	(2) The bodies to which this section applies are-
	(a) Health Authorities,
	(b) Special Health Authorities,
	(c) NHS trusts,
	(d) Primary Care Trusts.
	(3) An intervention order may make any provision authorised by section 84B below (including any combination of such provisions).
Intervention orders: effect.	84B. - (1) In this section-
	(a) "member" means a member of a Health Authority, Special Health Authority or Primary Care Trust, or a director of an NHS trust,
	(b) "employee member" means a member of a Health Authority, Special Health Authority or Primary Care Trust who is an officer of the Authority or Trust, or an executive director of an NHS trust.
	(2) An intervention order may provide for the removal from office of-
	(a) all the members, or
	(b) those specified in the order,
	and for their replacement with individuals specified in or determined in accordance with the order (who need not be the same in number as the removed individuals).
	(3) An intervention order may provide for the suspension (either wholly, or in respect only of powers and duties specified in or determined in accordance with the order) of-
	(a) all the members, or
	(b) those specified in the order,
	and for the powers of the suspended members to be exercised, and their duties performed, during their suspension by individuals specified in or determined in accordance with the order (who need not be the same in number as the suspended individuals).
	(4) The powers and duties referred to in subsection (3) are, in the case of an employee member, only those which he has in his capacity as a member.
	(5) An intervention order may contain directions to the body to which it relates to secure that a function of the body specified in the directions-
	(a) is performed, on behalf of the body and at its expense, by such person as is specified in the directions, and
	(b) is so performed in such a way as to achieve such objectives as are so specified,
	and the directions may require that any contract or other arrangement made by the body with that person contains such terms and conditions as may be so specified."

(2) In section 126 of the 1977 Act (orders, regulations and directions), in subsection (1), after "section 28EE(2) above," there shall be inserted "section 84A below,".

Prepared 9 February 2001