01 June 2007
Councils should be given more say in the reconfiguration of hospitals, but they must thrash out concerns over hospital sites with neighbouring local authorities, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research.
The IPPR's report, The politics of change, published on May 28, says that although hospital closures and reconfigurations are necessary for improved clinical outcomes, ministers should be removed from making decisions as their involvement leads to well-founded public scepticism.
At present the body set up to adjudicate over disputed reconfiguration proposals – the Independent Reconfiguration Panel – reports to the health secretary, who is the only person who can refer a case to the panel. Consequently, the IPPR said, the minister effectively has a 'pre-emptive veto'.
That veto should be replaced, it said, by giving local authorities the power to refer cases directly to the IRP. In return, councils should be obliged to delegate their referral powers to joint scrutiny committees made up of representatives from other councils whose communities stand to be affected by the proposal.
That recommendation follows the IPPR's observation that although local councillors were engaged in consultation processes, 'they avoided making potentially controversial recommendations about the choice of site'.
Tony Shaw, chief executive of the IRP, told Public Finance that any changes to the referral system would have to ensure the panel maintained its independence and that referrals were credible.
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