Department of health mandate to nhs commissioning board needs improvement

Published: 26 Sep 2012

 AvMA’s_Response to the Department of Health Consultation on the proposed mandate for the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB) stresses the need to give much more priority to patient safety and to engagement with patients. It also points out that the NHSCB’s responsibilities for investigating complaints about primary care practitioners and about Clinical Commissioning Groups need to be set out clearly in the mandate and objectives for the NHSCB. This is a vitally important responsibility of the NHSCB both in terms of upholding quality, learning for improving patient safety, and listening to patients. However, he current document is silent on this, AvMA point out.