Abolition of Patients' Forums etc
Section 230: Abolition of functions of Patients’ Forums
541.This section abolishes specified functions of Patients’ Forums, the Secretary of State’s regulation-making power to confer rights of entry on members of Patients’ Forums and regulation-making power to make provision about the membership of Patients’ Forums.
542.Subsection (2) makes provision for preparation of final reports and accounts, when the functions of the Patients’ Forums are abolished. Should this happen on a date other than at the end of the financial year, a Patients’ Forum must prepare annual accounts for the final reporting period as if that date were the end of the financial year. The report must be sent to the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health within 2 months of that date.
543.Subsection (3) requires that the final report includes details of anything being done by a Patients’ Forum which is outstanding when these Patients’ Forum functions are abolished.
544.The final reporting period will end when this section comes into force, and runs from the preceding 1 April.
545.A Patients’ Forum is not required to prepare a report or annual accounts in relation to any period after the end of the final reporting period.
Section 231: Abolition of Patients’ Forums
546.This section abolishes Patients’ Forums by omitting the provisions of the 2006 Act which establish Patients’ Forums, provide for the appointment of their members and make provisions about Patients’ Forums’ annual reports.
547.Subsection (2) makes provision for the transfer of property, rights and liabilities of each forum to the Secretary of State for Health. Under subsection (3), any legal proceedings relating to anything transferred may be continued by or in relation to the Secretary of State for Health.
Section 232: Abolition of Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health
548.This section abolishes the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health by omitting the provisions in the 2006 Act which establish the Commission and its functions.
549.Subsection (2) makes provision for the transfer of property, rights and liabilities of the Commission to the Secretary of State for Health. Under subsection (3), any legal proceedings relating to anything transferred may be continued by or in relation to the Secretary of State for Health.
550.Subsections (4) and (5) state that the Secretary of State may fix the Commission’s final reporting period once he is satisfied that the Commission has substantially carried out its function of reviewing Patients’ Forums’ final annual reports.
551.The final reporting period must begin on a 1st April, but can be longer or shorter than a year, as the Secretary of State fixes it.
552.The Commission is not required to prepare a report or annual accounts in relation to any period after the end of the final reporting period.
