As set out in the relevant chapter on NHS England's general duties, section 13Q of the NHS Act 2006 requires NHS England to make arrangements to involve the public in the commissioning of services (see the box at the end of this section in relation to CCG duties). The requirements are triggered if there are proposals that mean that patients would experience a change to the range of services available or the manner in which they are delivered (e.g. if a practice is closed following a practice merger). As set out in the chapter on NHS England's general duties, NHS England has published guidance on section 13Q in the form of "The Statement of Arrangements & Guidance on Patient and Public Participation in Commissioning" (the "Statement"). The Statement sets out that a change in the GP delivering the service is not usually enough to trigger the duty but that care must be taken if a change in personnel makes services less accessible to patient groups (e.g. because patients wish to be treated by someone of the same religion and gender as them). Where a practice merger may result in a change of the personnel delivering the service, the Commissioner should be alert to this. In practice, what will be sufficient in terms of patient involvement is very context specific. The extent of the patient engagement activities required will depend on a number of factors including the extent of the impact any changes will have. As a general rule, the greater the extent of changes and number of people affected, the greater the level of activity that is likely to be necessary to achieve an appropriate level of public involvement. Generally speaking, to meet the section 13Q duty, involvement needs to apply to and inform the whole decision making process, but this does not mean that patients need to be actively involved at every moment. Provided involvement is suitably built into the overall process, its timing can be arranged at stages to suit the Commissioner's decision-making processes. In particular, it is not necessary to involve patients immediately at the outset of any planning/consideration/decision making process in relation to any proposals of the commissioning of new services, provided patient involvement is planned for some early stage in the process. The plans for patient involvement should be clearly documented from the outset and the Commissioner should consider
As set out in the relevant chapter on NHS England's general duties, section 13Q of the NHS Act 2006 requires NHS England to make arrangements to involve the public in the commissioning of services (see the box at the end of this section in relation to CCG duties). The requirements are triggered if there are proposals that mean that patients would experience a change to the range of services available or the manner in which they are delivered (e.g. if a practice is closed following a practice merger). As set out in the chapter on NHS England's general duties, NHS England has published guidance on section 13Q in the form of "The Statement of Arrangements & Guidance on Patient and Public Participation in Commissioning" (the "Statement"). The Statement sets out that a change in the GP delivering the service is not usually enough to trigger the duty but that care must be taken if a change in personnel makes services less accessible to patient groups (e.g. because patients wish to be treated by someone of the same religion and gender as them). Where a practice merger may result in a change of the personnel delivering the service, the Commissioner should be alert to this. In practice, what will be sufficient in terms of patient involvement is very context specific. The extent of the patient engagement activities required will depend on a number of factors including the extent of the impact any changes will have. As a general rule, the greater the extent of changes and number of people affected, the greater the level of activity that is likely to be necessary to achieve an appropriate level of public involvement. Generally speaking, to meet the section 13Q duty, involvement needs to apply to and inform the whole decision making process, but this does not mean that patients need to be actively involved at every moment. Provided involvement is suitably built into the overall process, its timing can be arranged at stages to suit the Commissioner's decision-making processes. In particular, it is not necessary to involve patients immediately at the outset of any planning/consideration/decision making process in relation to any proposals of the commissioning of new services, provided patient involvement is planned for some early stage in the process. The plans for patient involvement should be clearly documented from the outset and the Commissioner should consider
primary-medical-care-policy-guidance-manual-final.docx