Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009

Public involvement: consultation schemes

20.—(1) A consultation scheme must make it clear how the body to which the scheme is to apply will make arrangements with a view to securing, as respects health and social care for which it is responsible, that the following are (directly or through representatives) involved in and consulted on the matters mentioned in subsection (2), namely—

(a) the Patient and Client Council;

(b) persons to whom that care is being or may be provided; and

(c) the carers of such persons (that is to say the individuals who provide a substantial amount of care on a regular basis for such persons but who are not employed to do so by a health and social care body).

(2) Those matters are—

(a) the planning of the provision of that care;

(b) the development and consideration of proposals for changes in the way that care is provided; and

(c) decisions to be made by that body affecting the provision of that care.

(3) The consultation scheme must provide for the body to which it is to apply—

(a) to have due regard to any comments submitted to it in response to the consultation; and

(b) to prepare a written statement which—

(i) summarises the comments received; and

(ii) sets out the body’s response to those comments.

(4) The consultation scheme must provide that the body to which it is to apply shall take such steps as in its opinion will give adequate publicity to the statement.