Commentary on Sections Part 2 –Standards Joint working Section 122: Joint Annual Reviews
276.Section 122 allows the Secretary of State to make regulations that would specify that CSCI and CHAI must carry out a joint review and award a star rating of certain health and social care services provided jointly where a local authority and a health service body (such as an NHS trust or Primary Care Trust) have entered into a partnership arrangement under a section 31 of the Health Act 1999.
277.Section 31 allows health and social care bodies, such as local authorities, primary care trusts (PCTs) and NHS trusts to form partnerships to improve the provision of health and social care services. This is used to provide services which involve elements of both health and social care provision. The key powers that section 31 provides are the abilities to pool funds and delegate functions to enable integrated provision and lead commissioning (where partners come to an agreement that one of them will take the lead in commissioning services for their mutual benefit). Many different types of health and social care services are provided under the arrangements and these can vary widely with respect to size and the amount of resource involved. Services commonly provided under a section 31 partnership include services for older people, rehabilitative care, child and adolescent healthcare and mental health services.
278.This section introduces a broad regulation making power that would enable Secretary of State to prescribe certain services for which a review should be carried out should this be deemed appropriate in the future. For example, regulations could specify that all jointly provided mental health services provided under a section 31 partnership should be subject to a joint annual review by the CHAI and the CSCI.
279.Such a joint review would enable a separate performance rating to be given for the jointly provided service, in addition to separate health and social care ratings. This would recognise the jointly provided service as something distinct and would be able to demonstrate whether it had added any value to the service provision.