IPEG, in association with the Centre for Public Policy Management (CPPM) and the National Primary Care Research & Development Centre (NPCRDC), are currently working on a project to evaluate the impact of local authority health scrutiny. The Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) made this award as part of their three-year national Health Scrutiny Support Programme (HSSP). This programme is designed to increase the capacity of non-executive councillors as they get to grips with their new powers to scrutinise health services. The project (evaluation research) focuses on local authority health scrutiny, an integral part of a bigger picture of health scrutiny which includes the Health Commission and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forums. It aims to evaluate the impact of the function as well as the process, to draw lesssons from early experience of outcomes and impact on health and well-being, and provide on-going feedback to the programme which can be fed into training, guidance and practical support.

The research builds on work already undertaken at CPPM, IPEG and NPCRDC over the last few years on both broader local authority scrutiny and the more specific area of health scrutiny. This project is a good example of how cross-departmental work can maximise skills, existing knowledge and experience.