UK - Consultation on local service boards in Wales published

Citation

(2007), "UK - Consultation on local service boards in Wales published", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhs.2007.21120bab.005

UK - Consultation on local service boards in Wales published

UK

Consultation on local service boards in Wales published

Keywords: Healthcare management, Governance, Change management

The Welsh Assembly Government has issued its consultation proposals for the first phase of Local Service Boards in Wales, as promised in Making the Connections: Delivering Beyond Boundaries, the Government’s response to the Beecham report, published in November last year.

The consultation does two things:

1. 1.

   it seeks views on proposals for introducing Local Service Boards across Wales in 2007-08, including development projects in a small number of areas; and

2. 2.

   it seeks applications from partnerships interested in becoming one of the development projects, whose role will be to develop the new Local Service Agreement model, and share learning with other areas.

The proposals have been formulated in discussion with stakeholders including the WLGA, the WCVA and the Welsh NHS Confederation.

The proposals consider the roles, form and function of the new board model, as well as governance and scrutiny arrangements. The document seeks views on how to balance the need to engage a wide range of stakeholders (including citizens and the workforce) with the need for a strong action focus.

The proposals do not prescribe the details of how the new arrangements should work, but rather challenge existing Local Strategic Partnerships to develop arrangements which are fit for purpose to deliver against the Beecham challenge – to strengthen capacity, change the culture and reduce complexity.

Sue Essex, Minister for Finance, Local Government and Public Services, said: “We are developing the Local Service Board model in a new way – concentrating on outcomes and encouraging the local partners to design the structures and processes that fit the problems we are trying to solve. The aim is to engage the whole Wales public service in a new way of working to solve problems and get better value for the citizen.”

Local Service Boards are not new organizations, but local leadership teams, pulling together all the partners, including local government, health bodies, the police, the voluntary and private sectors, to agree joint action to achieve better outcomes for citizens – where this depends on working across organizational boundaries. Boards will have a direct relationship with the Welsh Assembly Government, through Ministers and senior officials.

The purpose of establishing the Boards is to strengthen local public service leadership so that it can tackle fundamental challenges from a citizen, not a sector, perspective. This includes complex issues such as tackling mental health problems in a holistic way, or providing better health and social care at home, as well as shifting the public service focus more to support and prevention and less to fire-fighting.

Boards will work on critical issues – that are beyond the scope of individual organizations. The role is to ensure concerted and collective leadership across service boundaries. The role is not to oversee any individual service, but to ensure an effective whole-system response to the needs of citizens.

The new approach will be introduced through a developmental, action-learning process. This will test key challenges such as: governance, accountability and how to create a structure which is inclusive enough to enable all of the partners to contribute, but is also capable of operating as a focused team, and delivering for citizens.

The review of public service delivery in Wales (the Beecham report) was published in July 2006; the Welsh Assembly Government’s response to the report, Making the Connections – Delivering Beyond Boundaries issued in November. This included a commitment to introduce Local Service Boards in 2007-2008 following consultation on the model.

For further information: www.wales.nhs.uk