A range of health quangos will either be abolished or merged to cut bureaucracy and save money, the government has announced.
The changes will reduce the number of quangos from 18 to between eight and ten, with the government claiming it will deliver savings of over £180m by 2014/15.
The biggest victims of the cull are the Health Protection Agency, which protects the health of the population, and the National Patient Safety Agency, which promotes patient safety and manages the National Clinical Assessment Service, the National Research Ethics Service and confidential enquiries. Its safety functions will be retained and transferred to the National Commissioning Board.
The HPA will have its functions transferred to the secretary of state as part of the new Public Health Service.
Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s head of science and ethics, questioned the abolition of the HPA saying: “Public health messages are often more effective coming from this agency than the government.”
Other quangos which will disappear include: the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, which spreads new ways for working, the Alcohol Education and Research Council and the Appointments Commission.
As part of the wider reforms set out in the White Paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, the review assessed whether the work of each of the Department of Health’s 18 quangos remained essential. It also looked at whether work is being duplicated or could be better carried out by a different body.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Over the years the sector has grown to the point where overlap between organisations and duplication of effort have produced a needless bureaucratic web. By making sure that the right functions are being carried out at the appropriate level, we will free up significant savings to support front-line NHS services.”
What’s planned for the other quangos?
- Care Quality Commission, which regulates health and adult social care provision.
Proposal: Retain as quality inspectorate across health and social care, operating a joint licensing regime with Monitor. Current responsibility of assessing NHS commissioning moves to the NHS Commissioning Board. May gain functions from other organisations, e.g. HTA and HFEA.
- Monitor, which assesses, licences and monitors foundation trusts
Proposal: Retain and make an economic regulator, operating a joint licensing regime with CQC.
- National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which provides national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill-health.
Proposal: Retain, and put on a firmer statutory footing by establishing it in primary legislation. Expand scope to include social care standards.
- Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, which oversees professional regulators
Proposal: Remove from the sector. Make a self-funding body by charging a levy on regulators.
- General Social Care Council, which regulates social workers.
Proposal: Transfer the regulation of social workers to the Health Professions Council, which will be renamed to reflect its new remit.
- Health and Social Care Information Centre, which collects and provides health and social care information.
Proposal: Retain, and put on a firmer statutory footing by establishing it in primary legislation. National repository for data collection across health care, public health and adult social care. Clearer focus on data collection, with a close working relationship with the NHS Commissioning Board.
- Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates human embryo storage, research and assisted reproduction treatment
Proposal: Retain for the time being, with the aim of transferring its functions by the end of the current Parliament. In the meantime, the government will examine the practicalities of how to divide the HFEA’s functions between a new research regulator, the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
- Human Tissue Authority, which regulates the removal, storage and use of human tissue and organs.
Proposal: Retain for the time being, with the aim of transferring its functions by the end of the current Parliament. In the meantime, the government will examine the practicalities of how to divide the HTA’s functions between a new research regulator, the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which regulates medical devices and medicines.
Proposal: Retain, but with the expectation that it will undertake its regulatory duties in the most cost effective way.
- National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, which works to increase the availability, capacity and effectiveness of drug treatment in England.
Proposal: Abolish and transfer functions to the Secretary of State as part of the new Public Health Service.
- NHS Blood and Transplant, which provides blood, organs and associated services to the NHS.
Proposal: Retain, and commission an in-depth review of opportunities to make more commercially effective. Transfer Bio-Products Laboratory out of NHSBT into a Department of Health owned company.
- NHS Business Services Authority, which provides central services to the NHS
Proposal: Retain in short term, and commission commercial review to identify potential for increased commercial opportunities.
- NHS Litigation Authority, which handles negligence claims and works to improve risk management practices in the NHS.
Proposal: Retain, and commission an industry review to identify potential opportunities for greater commercial involvement.
Tags: Health policy
