Commentary on Sections Part 3 - Regulation of Health and Adult Social Care Services Schedule 8 - Monitor Section 66 - Matters to have regard to in exercise of functions
681.This section provides a list of the considerations to which Monitor must have regard when carrying out its functions.
682.Subsection (1) provides that the need to maintain the safety of people who use health care services would be paramount amongst the matters that Monitor must have regard to in carrying out its functions.
683.Subsection (2)(a) concerns the need for continuous improvement in quality and efficiency in NHS services. The inclusion of continuous improvement in the quality of NHS healthcare services is to ensure that Monitor’s actions must not impede the Secretary of State, NHS Commissioning Board and CCGs in carrying out their duties with a view to improving quality.
684.Subsection (2)(b) to (d) concerns the need for commissioners to ensure fair access to services based on clinical need and make best use of resources in doing so. These provisions are intended to ensure that Monitor acts in concert with commissioners and does not impede them in the exercise of their duties.
685.Subsection (2)(e) concerns the desirability for providers of NHS health care services to cooperate with one another to improve the quality of such services. It complements the provision in subsections (4) to (6) of section 62 which place a duty on Monitor to act with a view to enabling integration. Subsection (2)(e) will be relevant in situations where services are integrated and, more generally, to ensure quality of care across organisational boundaries, for example, through appropriate sharing of information. For example, providers would need to cooperate to ensure that patients who are discharged from hospital to other care settings, including domiciliary care, experience a smooth transition and that appropriate information is shared across organisational boundaries to enable continuity and quality of care. Subsection (2)(e) is intended to ensure that in exercising its functions, Monitor has regard to the need for such cooperation.
686.Subsections (2)(f) and (g) require Monitor to have regard to the need to promote research into matters relevant to the NHS and to the need for high standards of education and training for healthcare professionals, in carrying out its functions.
687.Subsection (2)(h) provides that Monitor must have regard to any guidance the Secretary of State publishes on the parts of the document published for the purpose of section 13E of the NHS Act (improvement of quality of services) which the Secretary of State considers to be particularly relevant to the exercise of Monitor’s functions. This may include, for example, guidance on national metrics for quality of care and health outcomes,