National Health Service Act 2006

[F1 General duties of the Board E+W

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. 2 Ch. A1 inserted (27.3.2012 for specified purposes, 1.10.2012 for specified purposes, 1.2.2013 for specified purposes, 1.4.2013 in so far as not already in force) by Health and Social Care Act 2012 (c. 7), ss. 23(1), 306(1)(d)(4); S.I. 2012/1831, art. 2(2) (with art. 4); S.I. 2012/2657, art. 2(4); S.I. 2013/160, art. 2(2) (with arts. 7-9)

13C Duty to promote NHS Constitution E+W

(1) The Board must, in the exercise of its functions—

(a) act with a view to securing that health services are provided in a way which promotes the NHS Constitution, and

(b) promote awareness of the NHS Constitution among patients, staff and members of the public.

(2) In this section, “patients” and “staff” have the same meaning as in Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Health Act 2009 (see section 3(7) of that Act).

13D Duty as to effectiveness, efficiency etc. E+W

The Board must exercise its functions effectively, efficiently and economically.

13E Duty as to improvement in quality of services E+W

(1) The Board must exercise its functions with a view to securing continuous improvement in the quality of services provided to individuals for or in connection with—

(a) the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness, or

(b) the protection or improvement of public health.

(2) In discharging its duty under subsection (1), the Board must, in particular, act with a view to securing continuous improvement in the outcomes that are achieved from the provision of the services.

(3) The outcomes relevant for the purposes of subsection (2) include, in particular, outcomes which show—

(a) the effectiveness of the services,

(b) the safety of the services, and

(c) the quality of the experience undergone by patients.

(4) In discharging its duty under subsection (1), the Board must have regard to—

(a) any document published by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section, and

(b) the quality standards prepared by NICE under section 234 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

13F Duty as to promoting autonomy E+W

(1) In exercising its functions, the Board must have regard to the desirability of securing, so far as consistent with the interests of the health service—

(a) that any other person exercising functions in relation to the health service or providing services for its purposes is free to exercise those functions or provide those services in the manner it considers most appropriate, and

(b) that unnecessary burdens are not imposed on any such person.

(2) If, in the case of any exercise of functions, the Board considers that there is a conflict between the matters mentioned in subsection (1) and the discharge by the Board of its duties under sections 1(1) and 1H(3)(b), the Board must give priority to those duties.

13G Duty as to reducing inequalities E+W

The Board must, in the exercise of its functions, have regard to the need to—

(a) reduce inequalities between patients with respect to their ability to access health services, and

(b) reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services.

13H Duty to promote involvement of each patient E+W

The Board must, in the exercise of its functions, promote the involvement of patients, and their carers and representatives (if any), in decisions which relate to—

(a) the prevention or diagnosis of illness in the patients, or

(b) their care or treatment.

13I Duty as to patient choice E+W

The Board must, in the exercise of its functions, act with a view to enabling patients to make choices with respect to aspects of health services provided to them.

13J Duty to obtain appropriate advice E+W

The Board must obtain advice appropriate for enabling it effectively to discharge its functions from persons who (taken together) have a broad range of professional expertise in—

(a) the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness, and

(b) the protection or improvement of public health.

13K Duty to promote innovation E+W

(1) The Board must, in the exercise of its functions, promote innovation in the provision of health services (including innovation in the arrangements made for their provision).

(2) The Board may make payments as prizes to promote innovation in the provision of health services.

(3) A prize may relate to—

(a) work at any stage of innovation (including research);

(b) work done at any time (including work before the commencement of section 23 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012).

13L Duty in respect of research E+W

The Board must, in the exercise of its functions, promote—

(a) research on matters relevant to the health service, and

(b) the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.

13M Duty as to promoting education and training E+W

The Board must, in exercising its functions, have regard to the need to promote education and training for the persons mentioned in section 1F(1) so as to assist the Secretary of State [F2 and Health Education England] in the discharge of the duty under that section.

Textual Amendments

F2 Words in s. 13M inserted (1.4.2015) by Care Act 2014 (c. 23), ss. 97(4)(b), 127(1); S.I. 2014/3186, art. 2(a)

13N Duty as to promoting integration E+W

(1) The Board must exercise its functions with a view to securing that health services are provided in an integrated way where it considers that this would—

(a) improve the quality of those services (including the outcomes that are achieved from their provision),

(b) reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access those services, or

(c) reduce inequalities between persons with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of those services.

(2) The Board must exercise its functions with a view to securing that the provision of health services is integrated with the provision of health-related services or social care services where it considers that this would—

(a) improve the quality of the health services (including the outcomes that are achieved from the provision of those services),

(b) reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access those services, or

(c) reduce inequalities between persons with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of those services.

(3) The Board must encourage clinical commissioning groups to enter into arrangements with local authorities in pursuance of regulations under section 75 where it considers that this would secure—

(a) that health services are provided in an integrated way and that this would have any of the effects mentioned in subsection (1)(a) to (c), or

(b) that the provision of health services is integrated with the provision of health-related services or social care services and that this would have any of the effects mentioned in subsection (2)(a) to (c).

(4) In this section—

• “health-related services” means services that may have an effect on the health of individuals but are not health services or social care services;

• “social care services” means services that are provided in pursuance of the social services functions of local authorities (within the meaning of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 [F3 or for the purposes of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014]).

[F4 (5) For the purposes of this section, the provision of housing accommodation is a health-related service.]

Textual Amendments

F3 Words in s. 13N(4) inserted (6.4.2016) by The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/413), regs. 2(1), 238

F4 S. 13N(5) inserted (1.4.2015) by Care Act 2014 (c. 23), ss. 3(6), 127(1); S.I. 2015/993, art. 2(a) (with transitional provisions in S.I. 2015/995)

13O Duty to have regard to impact on services in certain areas E+W

(1) In making commissioning decisions, the Board must have regard to the likely impact of those decisions on the provision of health services to persons who reside in an area of Wales or Scotland that is close to the border with England.

(2) In this section, “commissioning decisions”, in relation to the Board, means decisions about the carrying out of its functions in arranging for the provision of health services.

13P Duty as respects variation in provision of health services E+W

The Board must not exercise its functions for the purpose of causing a variation in the proportion of services provided as part of the health service that is provided by persons of a particular description if that description is by reference to—

(a) whether the persons in question are in the public or (as the case may be) private sector, or

(b) some other aspect of their status.]