Patient and clinical advisory boards to be replaced

The CRDB will be chaired by Harry Clayton the Department of Health’s director for patients and the public. There will be three deputy chairs: Professor Sir Cyril Chantler, chair of the King’s Fund; Talib Yaseem, director of nursing for North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust; with the remaining deputy chair from social care to be appointed.

Unlike the bodies it replaces CRDB will have no guaranteed representation from the Royal Colleges and other national patient, clinical and professional bodies.  A BMA spokesperson told E-Health Insider “We would be very keen to be represented on the board”, while a spokesperson for the NHS Confederation said “We will certainly be considering whether we encourage one of our members to apply." 

Executive members of CDRB will include: Kamini Gadhok, Chief Executive at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists; Professor Mike Pearson, Director of the Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit of the Royal College of Physicians; Hazel Tonge, from the NHS Modernisation Agency;  Paul Whatling, senior clinical consultant with NPfIT; and Marlene Winfield, Head of Public Engagement with NPfIT.

Foruteen additional members of the board will be appointed through an open advertisement, with the process overseen by the NHS Appointments Commission.

It is not yet clear who the new board will be accountable to. Asked to clarify this point an NPfIT spokesperson replied: “The board will identify areas of work and set up action teams to carry out the work. It will verify the work and recommendations of the action teams to the programme board." 

Asked when the new board will meet the spokesperson said: “The interim membership of the board will meet for the first time at the end of July a full board meeting will be held in September."  A conference for stakeholders is planned for November 2004.

Abolition of NCAB and PAB comes just nine months after the two bodies were created in October 2003.  In April 2004, Professor Peter Hutton resigned as chair of NCAB, a month after Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Aidan Halligan was appointed as joint director general of NPfIT with responsibility for clinician involvement. 

The membership of the NCAB consisted of nominees of the medical profession’s national bodies with heavy representation from the Royal Colleges, together with representatives of the Healthcare Commission, the NHS Confederation and National Patient Safety Agency.

Details of the work of NCAB and PAB have remained unclear as only the minutes of their first meetings have ever been made published. Subsequent minutes look unlikely to see the light of day.  The NPfIT spokesperson told EHI: “The work of NCAB and PAB has been fed into the new board.  The new board expects to publish details of its work including minutes from its meetings."

The DH added that action teams will be set up to define the processes within care and across the care boundaries that will be enabled through the use of IT.  One possible area named is defining the care processes involved in electronic prescribing.

The intention is that action teams will consult with a network of stakeholders including NHS bodies, professionals and patient and user organisations, and then make recommendations to the board.  “The work of the action teams will be based on the priorities of the national programme ensuring recommendations are given at the appropriate time to inform the development of the care records."

Commenting on the formation of the CRDB,  Andrew Haw, chairman of the Association for ICT Professionals in Health and Social Care (ASSIST) said: "This Association warmly welcomes the formation of this Board.  It will provide exactly the right level of input to ensure that the interests of patients are safeguarded and served, while helping to facilitate the efficient implementation of this crucial component of the National Programme for IT.

Health Minister John Hutton (right) said of the CRDB: “It will ensure the NHS develops patient-centred care processes that are supported by the IT being delivered by the National Programme.  The work of the board will enable wider consultation and input into the way the NHS Care Records Service is being developed."

Harry Cayton, added: “The board will comprise a small central team with a broad mix of patients and service users, health and social care professionals with experience of service delivery and a range of expertise. We will set the new paradigm for care, working with the national programme to ensure the NHS can maximise the benefits that the new IT has to offer to support improvements in care."