National Health Service Bill
1946-04 1946 1940s 10 pages - 4 - plan (attached) provides for a Central Hospitals Board with executive function, but the Association could support an advisory central committee as an alternative. 20. THE ASSOCIATION SUBMITS that persons appointed to the Council should serve in a representative c...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
|---|---|
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
April 1946
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/AFE97329-C4AD-44E0-95AA-CD735737B8C8 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F8E95169-A988-4F13-A955-601FFB4D617D |
| Summary: | 1946-04
1946
1940s
10 pages
- 4 - plan (attached) provides for a Central Hospitals Board with executive function, but the Association could support an advisory central committee as an alternative. 20. THE ASSOCIATION SUBMITS that persons appointed to the Council should serve in a representative capacity, and that in the First Schedule 1(b) provision shall explicitly be made for adequate representation of persons with experience in voluntary hospital management. Provision should also be made for a central standing committee - which would be advisory - for hospital services. Regional Hospital Boards - [Sec.11(1)] 21. The Association wholeheartedly supports the regional organisation of hospital services which it was the first to advocate nine years ago. The arrangements at regional level are of the greatest importance because they are the keystone of the administrative organisation. Much depends on the extent of their initiative and on the manner in which the Regional Boards are composed so that they command the confidence of those whose services they oversee. Their powers must not however be so great as to crush all local initiative and incentive as would be the case if the Regional Board were to be entrusted with the administration of every hospital (except the teaching hospitals) in the Region [White Paper Para. 19]. Constitution 22. It might be inferred from the Third Schedule Part I that members of these Boards would serve in a representative capacity. But the White Paper (Para.20) indicates that although the Minister is first required to consult certain representative bodies, he will "choose" and "appoint" persons "for their individual suitability for the task". 23. There is no indication as to the proportion of membership to be drawn from the various fields of experience or bodies of opinion enumerated. 24. The Third Schedule contains no assurance that there will be adequate representation of persons experienced in hospital management or in voluntary hospital management. 25. THE ASSOCIATION SUBMITS that the proportional composition of the Regional Hospital Boards should be defined in the Bill; that no particular group should predominate and that the members of the Regional Board should serve in a representative capacity. Function 26. The White Paper (Para. 22) states that the Regional Hospital Board is to have the duty of planning and co-ordinating the hospital services within its Region, This should be the primary function of the Board. But the Bill only provides for "administration" [Secs. 11 &12]. 27. The provision [White Paper Para. 19] to entrust the administration of all the voluntary non-teaching hospitals in the Region to the Regional Board is at variance with the need to retain local interest and sufficient local autonomy. 28. The powers and responsibilities to be delegated to the Regional Boards under the Bill are considerable. Nevertheless the degree of "local initiative and variety of enterprise" exercisable by the Regional Board is only to be such as "general principles of exchequer responsibility make possible" (White Paper Para. 24).
292/847/4/19 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | TEXT |