National Health Service Act 2006

[F1General duties of [F2NHS England]E+W

13CDuty to promote NHS ConstitutionE+W

(1)[F2NHS England] must, in the exercise of its functions—

(a)act with a view to securing that health services are provided in a way which promotes the NHS Constitution, and

(b)promote awareness of the NHS Constitution among patients, staff and members of the public.

(2)In this section, “patients” and “staff” have the same meaning as in Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Health Act 2009 (see section 3(7) of that Act).

13DDuty as to effectiveness, efficiency etc.E+W

[F2NHS England] must exercise its functions effectively, efficiently and economically.

13EDuty as to improvement in quality of servicesE+W

(1)[F2NHS England] must exercise its functions with a view to securing continuous improvement in the quality of services provided to individuals for or in connection with—

(a)the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness, or

(b)the protection or improvement of public health.

(2)In discharging its duty under subsection (1), [F2NHS England] must, in particular, act with a view to securing continuous improvement in the outcomes that are achieved from the provision of the services.

(3)The outcomes relevant for the purposes of subsection (2) include, in particular, outcomes which show—

(a)the effectiveness of the services,

(b)the safety of the services, and

(c)the quality of the experience undergone by patients.

(4)In discharging its duty under subsection (1), [F2NHS England] must have regard to—

(a)any document published by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section, and

(b)the quality standards prepared by NICE under section 234 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

F313FDuty as to promoting autonomyE+W

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13GDuty as to reducing inequalitiesE+W

[F2NHS England] must, in the exercise of its functions, have regard to the need to—

(a)reduce inequalities between [F4persons] with respect to their ability to access health services, and

(b)reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services [F5(including the outcomes described in section 13E(3))].

13HDuty to promote involvement of each patientE+W

[F2NHS England] must, in the exercise of its functions, promote the involvement of patients, and their carers and representatives (if any), in decisions which relate to—

(a)the prevention or diagnosis of illness in the patients, or

(b)their care or treatment.

13IDuty as to patient choiceE+W

[F2NHS England] must, in the exercise of its functions, act with a view to enabling patients to make choices with respect to aspects of health services provided to them.

13JDuty to obtain appropriate adviceE+W

[F6(1)] [F2NHS England] must obtain advice appropriate for enabling it effectively to discharge its functions from persons who (taken together) have a broad range of professional expertise in—

(a)the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness, and

(b)the protection or improvement of public health.

[F7(2)Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to NHS England’s education and training functions (see section 102 of the Care Act 2014 for the obtaining of advice in relation to those functions).]

13KDuty to promote innovationE+W

(1)[F2NHS England] must, in the exercise of its functions, promote innovation in the provision of health services (including innovation in the arrangements made for their provision).

(2)[F2NHS England] may make payments as prizes to promote innovation in the provision of health services.

(3)A prize may relate to—

(a)work at any stage of innovation (including research);

(b)work done at any time (including work before the commencement of section 23 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012).

13LDuty in respect of researchE+W

[F2NHS England] must, in the exercise of its functions, [F8facilitate or otherwise] promote—

(a)research on matters relevant to the health service, and

(b)the use in the health service of evidence obtained from research.

13MDuty as to promoting education and trainingE+W

[F2NHS England] must, in exercising its functions [F9other than its education and training functions], have regard to the need to promote education and training for the persons mentioned in section 1F(1) so as to assist F10... in the discharge of the duty under that section.

13NDuty as to promoting integrationE+W

(1)[F2NHS England] must exercise its functions with a view to securing that health services are provided in an integrated way where it considers that this would—

(a)improve the quality of those services (including the outcomes that are achieved from their provision),

(b)reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access those services, or

(c)reduce inequalities between persons with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of those services.

(2)[F2NHS England] must exercise its functions with a view to securing that the provision of health services is integrated with the provision of health-related services or social care services where it considers that this would—

(a)improve the quality of the health services (including the outcomes that are achieved from the provision of those services),

(b)reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access those services, or

(c)reduce inequalities between persons with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of those services.

[F11(2A)Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in relation to the exercise of NHS England’s education and training functions.]

(3)[F2NHS England] must encourage [F12integrated care boards] to enter into arrangements with local authorities in pursuance of regulations under section 75 where it considers that this would secure—

(a)that health services are provided in an integrated way and that this would have any of the effects mentioned in subsection (1)(a) to (c), or

(b)that the provision of health services is integrated with the provision of health-related services or social care services and that this would have any of the effects mentioned in subsection (2)(a) to (c).

(4)In this section—

• “health-related services” means services that may have an effect on the health of individuals but are not health services or social care services;

• “social care services” means services that are provided in pursuance of the social services functions of local authorities (within the meaning of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 [F13or for the purposes of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014]).

[F14(5)For the purposes of this section, the provision of housing accommodation is a health-related service.]

[F1513NADuty to have regard to wider effect of decisionsE+W

(1)In making a decision about the exercise of its functions, NHS England must have regard to all likely effects of the decision in relation to—

(a)the health and well-being of the people of England;

(b)the quality of services provided to individuals—

(i)by relevant bodies, or

(ii)in pursuance of arrangements made by relevant bodies,

for or in connection with the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness, as part of the health service in England;

(c)efficiency and sustainability in relation to the use of resources by relevant bodies for the purposes of the health service in England.

(2)In subsection (1)—

(a)the reference to a decision does not include a reference to a decision about the services to be provided to a particular individual for or in connection with the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness;

(b)the reference to effects of a decision in relation to the health and well-being of the people of England includes a reference to its effects in relation to inequalities between the people of England with respect to their health and well-being;

(c)the reference to effects of a decision in relation to the quality of services provided to individuals includes a reference to its effects in relation to inequalities between individuals with respect to the benefits that they can obtain from those services.

(3)In discharging the duty under this section, NHS England must have regard to guidance published by it under section 13NB.

(4)In this section “relevant bodies” means—

(a)NHS England,

(b)integrated care boards,

(c)NHS trusts established under section 25, and

(d)NHS foundation trusts.

13NBGuidance about discharge of dutyE+W

(1)NHS England may publish guidance about the discharge of—

(a)the duty imposed on it by section 13NA;

(b)the duty imposed on integrated care boards by section 14Z43;

(c)the duty imposed on NHS trusts by section 26A;

(d)the duty imposed on NHS foundation trusts by section 63A.

(2)NHS England must consult any persons NHS England considers it appropriate to consult—

(a)before first publishing guidance under this section, and

(b)before publishing any revised guidance containing changes that are, in the opinion of NHS England, significant.]

[F1613NCDuties as to climate change etcE+W

(1)NHS England must, in the exercise of its functions, have regard to the need to—

(a)contribute towards compliance with—

(i)section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008 (UK net zero emissions target), and

(ii)section 5 of the Environment Act 2021 (environmental targets), and

(b)adapt to any current or predicted impacts of climate change identified in the most recent report under section 56 of the Climate Change Act 2008.

(2)In discharging the duty under this section, NHS England must have regard to guidance published by it under section 13ND.

13NDGuidance about discharge of duty under section 13NC etcE+W

NHS England may publish guidance about the discharge of—

(a)the duty imposed on it by section 13NC;

(b)the duty imposed on integrated care boards by section 14Z44;

(c)the duty imposed on NHS trusts by section 26B;

(d)the duty imposed on NHS foundation trusts by section 63B.]

13ODuty to have regard to impact on services in certain areasE+W

(1)In making commissioning decisions, [F2NHS England] must have regard to the likely impact of those decisions on the provision of health services to persons who reside in an area of Wales or Scotland that is close to the border with England.

(2)In this section, “commissioning decisions”, in relation to [F2NHS England], means decisions about the carrying out of its functions in arranging for the provision of health services.

13PDuty as respects variation in provision of health servicesE+W

[F2NHS England] must not exercise its functions for the purpose of causing a variation in the proportion of services provided as part of the health service that is provided by persons of a particular description if that description is by reference to—

(a)whether the persons in question are in the public or (as the case may be) private sector, or

(b)some other aspect of their status.

[F1713PA.Duty to cooperate for education and training functions and specified functionsE+W

(1)NHS England must, in exercising its education and training functions, co-operate with the Secretary of State in the exercise of the public health functions of the Secretary of State.

(2)Regulations may require NHS England and a person specified in those regulations to co-operate with each other in the exercise of—

(a)NHS England’s education and training functions;

(b)the functions of the specified person;

(c)such of the functions in paragraphs (a) or (b) as may be specified.]]