Healthcare Commission's Annual Health Check of the Agency
The HPA Act requires us to be accountable for the standards of the healthcare services we provide as if we were an NHS authority, so the agency is subject to the Healthcare Commission’s (HC) ‘Annual Health Check’ against the Department of Health’s ‘Standards for Better Health’.
Twenty (of the twenty four) DH Standards apply to the HPA and the HC publish the criteria against which the Agency will be assessed on their website at
Overall, there are 40 Standards elements with which the Agency has to comply. The Agency’s Healthcare Standards Implementation Group, in conjunction with the Executive Group, carry out a yearly self-assessment exercise against the standards. The Agency also consults with key stakeholders (NHS Strategic Health Authorities, the Food Standards Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and the Police Authority) on its performance. For the 2007/08 declaration to the HC, the Agency shows (by 31 March 2008) thirty three Standards elements compliant, five non-compliant and two where there is insufficient assurance.
Following approval by the HPA Board, the declaration was submitted to the HC by its deadline of 30 April.
HPA Core standards declaration 2007/2008 (PDF, 517 KB)
The Agency received the following comments from the NWSHA too late for inclusion in the declaration form. They are shown here for completeness
The HC will conduct an inspection of the Agency in June/July 2008 against Standards for which we have declared compliance for the whole year. It will publish its opinion of the HPA declaration in October 2008, as an overall performance rating for the Agency.
For those standards that have not been met in 2007/08, an action plan has been developed to improve our performance over the coming year.
Last reviewed: 29 May 2008