The Annual Health Check

01 November 2006

This guide provides practical advice for health overview and scrutiny committees (OSCs) about producing a commentary on the performance of NHS bodies as part of the Healthcare Commission’s ‘annual health check’.

The guide:

• encourages OSCs and NHS bodies to plan for their respective contributions to the health check;
• encourages OSCs to work with stakeholders throughout the process, developing sustainable relationships;
• presents practical advice and examples of good practice;
• provides a checklist for preparing and providing commentaries on performance.

The guide is for Councillors, support officers and NHS staff who liaise with OSCs about the health check. Others with an interest in improving health services may also find it interesting.

The guide is presented in two sections.

• Section 1 - Policy This provides the background to the annual health check, and also to the powers and duties surrounding local authority health overview and scrutiny
• Section 2 - Practice This provides information and advice on how overview and scrutiny committees, and other third parties preparing to comment, might plan and produce their commentaries.

The guide draws on experiences of councillors and council officers involved in health scrutiny, of NHS staff and from discussions between the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the Healthcare Commission.

Case studies from around the country that capture the experience of 8 health OSCs and NHS colleagues during the first year of the health check can be found throughout the guide. The case studies demonstrate some of the challenges faced by OSCs during the first year of the annual health check, together with some of the benefits that OSCs can learn from for the future.