Health / No desire from above to change governance of health boards, local NHS chief says
THE NHS Shetland chief says the Scottish Government’s aim for more collaboration between health boards in the country does not come with a risk of decreased local governance or accountability.
Brian Chittick said first minister John Swinney has been clear that there are “no aspirations to change the governance of the territorial health boards in Scotland as they are at the moment”.
His comments at an NHS Shetland board meeting on Tuesday come amid talk from Scottish Labour about the party’s desire to see health boards merge.
The party, which is not in power in Scotland, has proposed cutting the number of boards from 14 to three, including bringing together Orkney, Shetland, Highland, Western Isles and Grampian.
Labour this said this could help to reduce “bureaucracy”.
An item was presented by Chittick at Tuesday’s board meeting on the topic of health board collaboration and leadership.
Its background highlighted that Swinney issued a statement in January emphasising the need for NHS boards to work collaboratively.
The report said over the last year steps have been taken to revise national governance arrangements, intended to enhance collaborative working.
In October last year an NHS Scotland executive group was formed, providing “collective leadership in addressing key issues which require a national perspective”.
The report added that NHS boards are working to advance practical examples of building a “more cohesive approach” to the design and delivery of services in Scotland.
At Tuesday’ meeting board member Kathy Hubbard said “nobody is going to argue with the value of increased collaboration and putting heads together”.
But she said she was a “wee bit confused” about a part of the report which “makes reference to the evolution of the governance process”.
“While we’re busy collaborating, and cooperating and sharing our toys and everything [do you get] from your discussions so far that this may ultimately result in decreased local governance and accountability as things become more regionalised?”
Chittick said it has been expressed “explicitly” that there is no desire to change the arrangements of health boards at the moment.
“I think it’s more around about the performance, and then that leads to increased accountability at board level for the performance of the health board,” he added.
Board chairman Gary Robinson highlighted that NHS Shetland has historically had links with the Grampian health board, and the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank, through patients travelling south for treatment.
He said the “reality is we’re collaborating much more widely now” and said NHS Shetland was also using the Highland health board for some orthopaedic surgeries.
“It’s important that as that evolves we get the governance around it as well,” Robinson said.
He added: “I do think we collaborate well within the north region and so this only reinforces what we’re already doing.”
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