DoH announces chair of cooperation and competition panel

The Department of Health (DoH) has announced the appointment of the first chair and director of the NHS Cooperation and Competition Panel.

Lord Carter of Coles will take up the position from October 2008 and will head up the organisation that will aim to ensure fair and transparent competition between independent sector providers and the health service for NHS-funded services.

The new panel will advise the DoH and strategic health authorities on dispute resolution in this area, having specific responsibility for the consideration of complaints regarding issues related to the procurement of clinical services, promotion and advertising.

It will also consider disputes regarding mergers and acquisitions of services where an NHS body is involved.

Ben Bradshaw, health minister, said: “Competition has played an important role in driving up quality and responsiveness of healthcare services and increasing value for money.”

He added that the DoH has designed a system where competition works in the NHS through the exercising of patient choice and open and fair competition for services.

Earlier this week, the British Medical Association backed plans to allow NHS patients to have more freedom to seek treatment elsewhere in the European Union.