More on the management board
The FT continues its coverage of proposals for an independent management board to run the NHS.
Politicians and the Department of Health would raise the money, set targets and hold the NHS commissioners to account.
But an NHS board would then allocate the money to NHS organisations, set clinical standards, manage performance, negotiate pay and, crucially, decide on the best organisational structure for delivery.
The board itself would be made up of NHS leaders, clinicians, patients and members of the public, with existing inspectorates such as the Healthcare Commission and Monitor reporting to the health secretary.
Ministers would retain the power to fire the NHS chief executive or board, or require an action plan or some form of external support, where standards were not being met,
The NHS overall would be governed by a charter agreed once every three years as part of the comprehensive spending review process, according to the proposals from Birmingham University’s Health Services Management Centre, whose senior figures include Professor Chris Ham, a former head of strategy at the Department of Health.
My perspective is that I take whatever Chris Ham says with a large helping of salt. His track record does not inspire confidence, having been partly responsible for the current mess in the first place.
Academics with no operational or indeed clinical experience can comment but are unlikely to provide viable solutions.