Commenting on the publication of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the NHS Landscape, NHS Confederation acting chief executive Nigel Edwards, said:
“Alongside the Government's health reforms, the NHS has been charged with making unprecedented efficiency gains of £15-20billion over the next four years. The success or failure of the Government’s health policies will ultimately be judged by how effectively the NHS manages both of these major challenges.
“The PAC rightly raises the need for adequate governance and accountability to ensure that public money is safeguarded. We are keen to make sure all organisations established through the health reforms comply with the Nolan principles of public life and establish boards that meet in public and publish their board papers transparently. We have called for scrutiny at a local level to be strengthened by requiring GP commissioning consortia to account for their decisions to local overview and scrutiny committees and health and wellbeing boards.
"The Government will also need to spell out how it will deal with those GP consortia and providers that fail. It will need to ensure the rewards of success and the consequences of failure are significant enough to have an impact on organisational behaviour and financial management."