News / NHS Improvement sets out plans for subsidiary oversight

NHS Improvement believes joint ventures and subsidiaries may become more common with the advent of new care models as vehicles to hold accountable care organisation contracts or deliver multispecialty community providers and integrated primary and acute care systems.

Currently, subsidiaries and joint ventures are classed as independent providers, which are subject to a lighter touch regulatory regime. 

In a consultation document, the oversight body said that the ‘distinction based on legal form does not make sense where NHS care is carried out on behalf of, and ultimately controlled by, NHS providers’.

The proposed new set of licence conditions would require NHS-controlled providers to have effective board and committee structures, reporting lines and performance and risk management systems. 

They will be overseen under the single oversight framework and will adhere to other guidance that applies to NHS providers.

According to an impact assessment, the number of providers that would be affected was likely to be low  – up to six over five years. 

It added that its proposals were unlikely to affect the proportion of services provided by public or private organisations.

The consultation process will close on 12 October.