DH - Quality accounts: roles of commissioning PCTs, Local Involvement Networks (LINks) and local authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees (OSCs) - 14 Jan

Source

This letter sets out the roles of PCTs, LINks and OSCs in the production of Quality Accounts

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Extract...

QUALITY ACCOUNTS: Roles of Commissioning PCTs, Local Involvement Networks (LINks) and local authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees (OSCs)

In High Quality Care for All, published in June 2008, Ministers set out the Government’s vision for putting quality at the heart of everything the NHS does. The report set out that a key component of the new Quality Framework would be a requirement for all providers of NHS services to publish Quality Accounts: annual reports to the public on the quality of health care services they deliver. The aim of Quality Accounts is to improve public accountability and to engage boards in understanding and improving quality in their organisations.

Over the last year, the Department of Health has engaged widely with healthcare providers, commissioners, patient groups and third sector organisations in the development of Quality Accounts and we have recently completed a consultation on our detailed proposals.

One important area that we have considered during this development phase is how to ensure that the information contained in Quality Accounts is accurate (the data used is of a high standard), fair (the interpretation of the information provided is reasonable) and gives a representative and balanced overview.

A key message from our engagement activity was that confidence in the assurance process is key to maximising confidence in the Quality Accounts themselves. Year-round stakeholder engagement during the process of producing a Quality Account was also seen as an important feature to ensure that Quality Accounts are locally meaningful and reflect local priorities.

As a first step, it is intended that providers will have to share their Quality Accounts prior to publication each June with:

• their commissioning PCT (or SHA)
• the appropriate LINk†
• the appropriate local authority OSC

It is intended that the commissioning PCT or SHA will have a legal obligation to review and comment on a provider’s Quality Account, while LINks and OSCs will be offered the opportunity to comment on a voluntary basis.
This means that commissioning PCTs, LINks and OSCs will have important roles in the development of Quality Accounts and in maximising their success. We are writing to you now, following the successful completion of the Health Act in November which details the primary legislation for Quality Accounts, to give you advance warning of these important roles.

Timescale for introduction
It is intended that the legal duty to publish a Quality Account will be brought into force from April 2010. Providers will then be required to publish their Quality Account in June each year (starting in June 2010), reporting on the quality of their healthcare services for the previous financial year.

It is intended that Regulations will be made to come into force on the same date as the duty to set out the prescribed information, form and content of Quality Accounts as well as any exceptions to the requirement and the checking and publication process. This letter sets out some of the intentions behind the Regulations and should be used only as preliminary guidance allowing providers, commissioners, LINks and OSCs to prepare for their roles. In order to comply with their legal duties all NHS bodies will need to refer to the final Quality Accounts Regulations and any associated guidance.

It is intended that for the first year the requirement to publish information relating to the quality of services will not apply to primary care services and community healthcare services. Providers that provide other services alongside primary care and/ or community healthcare will only need to produce a quality account for those other services. So for example, Mental Health Trusts that provide both acute and community healthcare will only report on the quality of acute healthcare services provided.

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