This briefing focuses on accountability, specifically the local accountability of NHS bodies to local authorities’ overview and scrutiny arrangements. In explaining the new arrangements it makes reference to existing health scrutiny systems, which are those introduced following the passage of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Regulations on health scrutiny were passed in 2014 and remain in force for the time being.
In common with other recent health legislation (including the Health and Social Care Act 2012), by and large the Act operates by making amendments to the National Health Service Act 2006 (although it also makes some amendments to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007). This means that the Act has to be read in conjunction with those Acts to make sense.
CfGS published a briefing in summer 2021 on the Health and Care Bill as introduced into Parliament. While there were a number of significant, substantive amendments to the legislation as it progressed through both Houses, its fundamentals remained the same.
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