NHS Tameside & Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England Primary Care Joint Committee Terms of Reference
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Introduction 1. Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England, announced on 1 May 2014 that NHS England was inviting Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to expand their role in primary care commissioning and to submit expressions of interest setting out the CCG’s preference for how it would like to exercise expanded primary medical care commissioning functions. One option available was that NHS England and CCGs would jointly commission primary medical services. 2. The NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG and NHS England Primary Care Joint Committee is a joint committee with the primary purpose of jointly commissioning primary medical services for the people of Tameside and Glossop.
Statutory Framework 3. The National Health Service Act 2006 (as amended) (‘NHS ACT’) provides, at section 13Z, that NHS England’s functions may be exercised jointly with a CCG, and that functions exercised jointly in accordance with that section may be exercised by a joint committee of NHS England and the CCG. Section 13Z of the NHS Act further provides that arrangements made under that section may be on such terms and conditions as may be agreed between NHS England and the CCG.
Role of the Joint Committee 4. The role of the Joint Committee shall be to carry out the functions relating to the commissioning of primary medical services under section 83 of the NHS Act except those relating to individual GP performance management, which have been reserved to NHS England. 5. This includes the following activities:
GMS, PMS, and APMS contracts (including the design of PMS and APMS contracts, monitoring of contracts, taking contractual action such as issuing breach/remedial notices, and removing a contract);
Newly designed enhanced services (‘Local Enhanced Services’ and ‘Directed Enhanced Services’);
Design of local incentive schemes as an alternative to the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF); 2
Decision-making on whether to establish new GP practices in the area;
Approving practice mergers; and
Making decisions on ‘discretionary’ payments.
6. In performing its role the Joint Committee will exercise its management of the functions in accordance with the agreement entered into between NHS England and NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG, which will sit alongside the delegation and the Terms of Reference. This agreement will include the arrangements to deal with matters such as information sharing, resource sharing, contractual mechanisms for service delivery (and ownership) and the interplay between contractual and performance list management.
Geographical Coverage 7. The Joint Committee will comprise the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub-Region of NHS England and NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG. It will undertake the function of jointly commissioning primary medical services for the metropolitan borough of Tameside and for Glossop within the boundaries of Derbyshire County Council.
Membership 8. The Committee shall consist of: Voting Members: The Lay Advisor with responsibility for Finance (Chair) (or another Lay Advisor/Member) The Director of Transformation (or a nominated deputy) A Lay Member or Lay Advisor (Vice Chair) A Clinical Governing Body Member (with the lead responsibility for Primary Care) GP Clinical Lead Quality Improvement The Clinical Chair of the Governing Body The Lay Member who chairs the IGAR Committee A representative of the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub-Region of NHS England The Deputy Chief Finance Officer (or a nominated deputy) 3
(The clinical vice chair may deputise for any of the above GP roles.) Representatives invited to be in attendance (Non-voting): A Local Medical Committee representative The CCG Head of Primary Care Development or representative A Nursing and Quality directorate representative
9. The Committee Chair shall manage and advise as required on all conflict of interest matters. An escalation policy is in place that will allow any issues arising to be resolved through Governing Body Members and CCG Executives. 10. The following will have a standing invitation to attend the meetings of the Joint Committee: Representatives of the Tameside MBC and Derbyshire County Council HealthWatch Representatives of the Tameside and Derbyshire Health and Wellbeing Boards. A representative of the Public Health directorate of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and of Derbyshire County Council. Head of Finance – Locality Support Manager. None of these roles carries voting privileges.
Meetings and Voting 11. The Joint Committee shall adopt the Standing Orders of NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG in so far as they relate to the: a) Notice of meetings b) Handling of meetings c) Agendas d) Circulation of papers, and e) The CCG’s procedures for the handling of conflicts of interest. 12. Each member of the Joint Committee shall have one vote. The Joint Committee shall reach decisions by a simple majority of members present. However the 4
aim of the committee will be to achieve consensus decision making wherever possible. a) In respect of any functions within NHS England’s statutory obligations the CCG and NHS England have an equal number of votes (this is made possible through a weighted vote arrangement). The representative of the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub- Region of NHS England will have a casting vote if necessary on any business pertaining to NHS England’s statutory obligations. b) For any functions within the CCG’s statutory obligations the chair will have a second and deciding vote if necessary. 13. The quorum for the Joint Committee is five of the nine members to include at least one Lay Member and at least one representative of the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub- Region of NHS England.
Frequency of meetings 14. The Joint Committee will meet a minimum of eight times per year. It is anticipated that the Joint Committee will routinely meet at monthly intervals. 15. Meetings of the Joint Committee shall: a) be held in public, subject to the application of 16(b);
b) the Joint Committee may resolve to exclude the public from a meeting that is open to the public (whether during the whole or part of the proceedings) whenever publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted or for other special reasons stated in the resolution and arising from the nature of that business or of the proceedings or for any other reason permitted by the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 as amended or succeeded from time to time. 16. Members of the Joint Committee have a collective responsibility for the operation of the Joint Committee. They will participate in discussion, review evidence, and provide objective expert input to the best of their knowledge and ability, and endeavour to reach a collective view. 17. The Joint Committee may call additional experts to attend meetings on an ad hoc basis to inform discussions. 5
18. Members of the Joint Committee shall respect confidentiality requirements as set out in the CCG’s Standing Orders unless separate confidentiality requirements are set out for the Joint Committee in which event these shall be observed. 19. The Secretariat to the Joint Committee will: a) Circulate the minutes and action notes of the Joint Committee within seven working days of the meeting to all members. b) Present the minutes and action notes to the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub-Region of NHS England and to the Governing Body of NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG routinely for information. 20. The CCG will also comply with any reporting requirements set out in its Constitution.
Decisions 21. The Joint Committee will make decisions within the bounds of its remit. 22. The decisions of the Joint Committee shall be binding on NHS England and NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG.
23. The decisions will be published by both NHS England and NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG. 24. The Committee will produce an executive summary report which will be presented routinely to the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub-Region of NHS England and to the Governing Body of NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG for information.
Key Responsibilities 25. The Joint Committee will have responsibility for carrying out a needs assessment for primary medical care in Tameside & Glossop and then for identifying the means by which such needs can be met for the population.
Review of the Terms of Reference 26. These Terms of Reference will be reviewed from time to time and no less 6
frequently than annually. Such reviews will reflect the experience of the Joint Committee in fulfilling its functions and the wider experience of NHS England and CCGs in the co-commissioning of primary medical services. These Terms of Reference may be amended by mutual agreement between the Lancashire and Greater Manchester Sub-Region of NHS England and NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG.
[Signature provisions]
These Terms of Reference were approved by the Governing Body at their meeting on 22 April 2015.
