The National Health Service (Quality Accounts) Regulations 2010
| Year | 2010 |
2010 No. 279
National Health Service, England
The National Health Service (Quality Accounts) Regulations 2010
Made 8th February 2010
Laid before Parliament 11th February 2010
Coming into force 1st April 2010
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 8, 9(5) and 10(3) of the Health Act 20091and sections 8(1), 272(7) and 273(4) of the National Health Service Act 20062.
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Quality Accounts) Regulations 2010 and shall come into force on 1st April 2010.
(2) In these Regulations—
“the 2006 Act” means the National Health Service Act 2006;
“the 2009 Act” means the Health Act 2009;
“relevant document” means a document which must be published under section 8(1) or (3) of the 2009 Act.
(3) For the purposes of these Regulations—
(a)
(a) “NHS services”3does not include the services exempted by regulation 2;
(b)
(b) a body or person sub-contracts services where—
(i) in the case of a body listed in section 8(2) of the 2009 Act, they make arrangements for a person not listed in section 8(2) or (3) of that Act to provide those services; and
(ii) in the case of a person listed in section 8(3) of the 2009 Act, they make arrangements as mentioned in section 2(5)(a) of that Act for another person to provide those services; and
(c)
(c) references to NHS services provided by a body or person are a reference to—
(i) in the case of a body listed in section 8(2) of the 2009 Act, any NHS services provided by that body; and
(ii) in the case of a person listed in section 8(3) of the 2009 Act, any NHS services provided by that person as mentioned in section 2(4)(a) or (b) of the 2009 Act, or which that person assists in providing as mentioned in section 2(4)(b) of that Act.
Exemption for community health services and primary care services
2.—(1) Section 8(1) and (3) of the 2009 Act (duty of provider to publish information) does not apply to community health services and primary care services.
(2) For the purpose of this regulation—
“community health services” means any services which the Secretary of State may provide under section 3(1)(d) or (e) (Secretary of State’s duty as to provision of certain services) of, or paragraph 2 or 7A4of Schedule 1 (further provision about the Secretary of State and services etc.) to, the 2006 Act and any service which he has a duty to provide under paragraph 1 or 8 of that Schedule;
“primary care services” means NHS services—
(a) provided under a contract, agreement or arrangement made under or by virtue of the following provisions of the 2006 Act—
(i) section 83(2)(b) (arrangements made by PCTs for provision of primary medical services),
(ii) section 84(1) (general medical services contracts),
(iii) section 92 (other arrangements for the provision of primary medical services),
(iv) section 100(1) (general dental services contracts),
(v) section 107(1) (other arrangements for the provision of primary dental services),
(vi) section 117(1) (general ophthalmic services contracts),
(vii) section 126(1) (pharmaceutical services),
(viii) section 127(1) (additional pharmaceutical services), or
(ix) Schedule 12 (local pharmaceutical services schemes); or
(b) provided by a Primary Care Trust pursuant to section 83(2)(a) (primary medical services), 99(2) (primary dental services) or 115(4)(a) (primary ophthalmic services) of the 2006 Act.
Exemption for small providers from duty to publish information
3.—(1) Section 8(1) and (3) of the 2009 Act does not apply to a body or person in respect of a reporting period, where paragraph (2) applies.
(2) This paragraph applies to a body or person—
(a)
(a) which on the relevant date employed no more than fifty full time equivalent employees; and
(b)
(b) whose total income in relation to the reporting period under all contracts, agreements or arrangements with Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities for the provision of NHS services, is not more than £130,000.
(3) The number of full time equivalent employees is calculated by dividing the total number of hours worked by all employees on the relevant date by the average standard contracted hours for the employing body or person for that period.
(4) For the purposes of this regulation, “the relevant date” in relation to a reporting period is—
(a)
(a) for any body or person not providing or subcontracting NHS services on 1st April, the first day in that period the body or person provides or sub-contracts NHS services; or
(b)
(b) in all other cases 1st April in that period.
Prescribed information, content and form of document
4.—(1) A relevant document must consist of 4 parts as follows—
(a)
(a) Part 1, containing a statement summarising the provider’s5view of the quality of NHS services provided or sub-contracted by the provider during the reporting period and the statement referred to in regulation 6;
(b)
(b) Part 2, containing the information relevant to the quality of NHS services provided or sub-contracted by the provider during the reporting period which is prescribed for the purposes of section 8(1) or (3) of the 2009 Act by paragraph (2) and the information required by regulation 7;
(c)
(c) Part 3, containing other information relevant to the quality of NHS services provided or sub-contracted by the provider during the reporting period which is included in the document by the provider; and
(d)
(d) an annex containing the statements or copies of the statements referred to in regulation 5.
(2) The information prescribed for the purposes of section 8(1) or (3) of the 2009 Act is the information specified in column 1 of the table in the Schedule as presented in the form of the statements specified in column 2 of that table.
(3) The annex referred to in paragraph (1)(d) is not required in a draft relevant document supplied under regulations 8 to 10
Written statements by other bodies
5.—(1) The statements or copies of statements referred to in regulation 4(1)(d) are—
(a)
(a) a copy of any written statement provided under regulation 8(2)(b);
(b)
(b) a copy of any written statement relating to the content of the relevant document, which is no more than 500 words in length, provided prior to publication by an appropriate Local Involvement Network in response to the draft received pursuant to regulation 9;
(c)
(c) a copy of any written statement relating to the content of the relevant document, which is no more than 500 words in length, provided prior to publication in response to the draft received pursuant to regulation 10 by—
(i) the appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, or
(ii) a joint overview and scrutiny committee carrying out the functions of that Overview and Scrutiny Committee under regulations under section 245 of the 2006 Act (joint overview and scrutiny committees etc.); and
(d)
(d) a statement by the provider setting out any changes made to the relevant document following receipt of such written statements.
(2) For the purpose of this regulation, “appropriate Local Involvement Network” and “appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee” have the same meaning as in regulations 9 and 10.
Signature by senior employee
6.—(1) The relevant document must include a written statement, at the end of Part 1, signed by the responsible person for the provider that to the best of that person’s knowledge the information in the document is accurate.
(2) For the purpose of this regulation “the responsible person” means, where the provider is—
(a)
(a) a body corporate or partnership, the most senior employee;
(b)
(b) an unincorporated body of persons other than a partnership, a member of the provider’s governing body or the most senior employee of the provider; or
(c)
(c) an individual, that individual.
Priorities for improvement
7.—(1) The relevant document must include, in Part 2, a description of the areas for improvement in the quality of NHS services that the provider intends to provide or sub-contract for the 12 months following the end of the reporting period.
(2) The description must include—
(a)
(a) at least three priorities for improvement;
(b)
(b) how progress to achieve the priorities identified in paragraph (a) will be monitored and measured by the provider; and
(c)
(c) how progress to achieve the priorities identified in paragraph (a) will be reported by the provider.
Document assurance by commissioning Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority
8.—(1) The provider must provide a copy of the draft relevant document to the commissioning Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority within 30 days beginning with 1st April following the end of the reporting period.
(2) The commissioning Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority must—
(a)
(a) take reasonable steps to check the accuracy of the information contained in the draft relevant document in relation to NHS services provided or sub-contracted by the provider under contracts, agreements or arrangements with that Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority;
(b)
(b) provide a written statement, which is no longer than 500 words in length—
(i) confirming whether or not they consider the draft relevant document contains accurate information in relation to NHS services provided or sub-contracted by the provider under contracts, agreements or arrangements with that Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority; and
(ii) containing any other information they consider relevant to the quality of NHS services provided or sub-contracted by the provider...
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