How we make decisions

NHS Leicester City is responsible for making decisions about investing in new, existing and additional services.

Some of these decisions are informed by the Department of Health. For example, there are guiding principles on how PCTs should improve the consistency and quality of decision making on medicines. Other decisions are guided by local needs.

NHS Leicester City uses its funds to meet these requirements, and to meet our own key objectives and priorities, which have been developed with consultations with public, voluntary and community organisations, patients and staff, as well as extensive research.

This may involve investing in new services, but also may require us to stop investing in services or treatments where better or more cost-effective ones are available, or are found to be ineffective.

Structure

These are the senior levels of decision making within NHS Leicester City:

The Board

The Clinical Cabinet / Professional Executive Committee

The Corporate Management Team (ie, a Chief Executive and Executive Directors)

The Board is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the role and functions of NHS Leicester City are carried out. In doing so, the Board must determine its strategic priorities, be well governed, demonstrate full commissioning competencies in all that it does and be financially sound. There are also three executive members on the Board: the Chief Executive, the Director of Finance and the Director of Public Health. Board meetings are open to the public and members of the public are encouraged to attend (see Ask the Board).

The Clinical Cabinet ensures that clinical leadership is at the heart of NHS Leicester City. The Cabinet includes the core Professional Executive Committee and representatives from the clinical professions.

The Corporate Management Team consists of the Chief Executive and his team of Executive Directors, each with their own specialised areas of work - or directorates - and who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation.