Standards for members of NHS boards and governing bodies in England

Standards for members of NHS boards and governing bodies in England

Public consultation

19 January 2012 to 10 April 2012

We are now consulting on draft Standards for members of NHS boards and governing bodies in England.

These Standards build on work already done in this area, including by the National Leadership Council, and they are consistent with the Nolan Principles on Public Life and other regulatory frameworks that apply to professionals working in the NHS. They cover three domains:

• Technical competence and ability to carry out the job
• Personal behaviours and accountability
• Business practices including financial probity.

CHRE was asked by Sir David Nicholson in July 2011 to develop a set of high-level standards for executive and non-executive NHS board members in England. This request arose from the Government’s commitment in the Command Paper, Enabling Excellence – Autonomy and Accountability for Healthcare Workers, Social Workers and Social Care Workers:

‘The Government recognises the strong public, patient and professional concern about instances where senior managers who have let people down appear to have avoided significant consequences for their actions and that a stronger assurance mechanism is needed. Whilst the precise nature of this mechanism needs to be discussed further with employers, patients, professionals and the public, as a foundation for this, we will commission independently led work to agree consistent standards of competence and behaviour for senior NHS leaders.’

Following a four-month development period, the draft Standards are now available for consultation. We are inviting responses on the content of the draft Standards, and the impact the Standards could have on any individuals or groups based on age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (“protected characteristics” under the Equality Act 2010).We would like to hear from anyone with an interest in this work, including:

• members of the public, patients, their families and carers
• NHS board members, managers, and staff at all levels
• health professionals
• any individuals or organisations with an interest or expertise in leadership and management in the NHS or other comparable environments.

You can respond to this consultation:

• online: by completing the questionnaire through our online survey. Click here  to go straight to the survey
• by email: by completing the questionnaire in Word and returning it to policy@chre.org.uk
• by post: by completing the questionnaire in Word and returning it to Standards for NHS Board Members, PRER, CHRE, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 9SP.

The consultation will close on Tuesday 10 April 2012.

If you have any queries, or require an accessible version of this document please contact the CHRE policy team at policy@chre.org.uk

As part of the development work, we have completed a brief policy review of existing standards. This is available here.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact policy@chre.org.uk.