FIPO National Medical Advisory Committee
(FIPO NAT-MAC)
Background to Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) responsibilities and functions in the Independent Sector - June 2009
Medical Advisory Committees (MACs) in all UK independent hospitals are seeing their roles increase. The Care Standards Act imposes statutory responsibilities on the MAC Chairman and the whole committee. Consultant revalidation will mean an increased workload and the advent of Responsible Officers and enhanced appraisal is currently under intense discussion. Whatever the final format, this will be another layer of governance with considerable implications. The MAC will be required to impose stricter rules on consultants over issues such as audit, note keeping and clinical practices. Complaints, clinical incidents and the involvement of NCAS and the GMC are likely to increase. MACs in larger hospitals will need to oversee subgroups responsible for governance and quality issues. There will be a greater emphasis on outcome measures by the regulators (Care Quality Commission) and the insurers. In addition there will be more intrusion in to consultant performance and scope of practice. Thus the "advisory" role of the MAC and in particular its Chairman will be enhanced.
FIPO Nat-MAC has been established in order to
- Provide a more general and direct access to the FIPO Board
- Provide two-way communication between consultants and FIPO and thus a direct link to the "local" consultants
- Provide support and co-ordination of certain activities of MAC Chairmen and to give unbiased advice in specific cases
- Provide professional guidance and education as the legal responsibilities of MAC Chairmen increase
Benefits of Membership of FIPO Nat-MAC
There are several reasons for MAC Committees to join FIPO Nat-MAC.
- The local MAC and its Chairman is often isolated despite increasing responsibilities. FIPO Nat-MAC will correct this by supporting these consultant leaders with an independent professional organisation which will inform, co-ordinate (when necessary) and provide medical insight into new legislation.
- Local consultants need to be fully briefed on Private Medical Insurance (PMI) issues and the MAC Chairmen needs to lead locally on all this. FIPO Nat-MAC links MAC Chairmen to a confidential national and purely medical network to assist in this task.
Without independent support and advice, MAC Chairmen are sometimes left in a quandary over specific issues and will be increasingly personally vulnerable as the legislation becomes more complex.
Structure
FIPO Nat-MAC fits into the overall FIPO structure as follows:
The FIPO Nat-MAC general committee is open to all local MACs and periodic meetings will be held. Newsletters are sent regularly to MAC Chairmen. An executive committee is made up of ten representatives (MAC Chairmen from around the UK) together with three FIPO Board members. One of the MAC Chairmen is a member of the FIPO Board.
FIPO MAC Guidelines
At several previous FIPO Nat-MAC meetings the MAC Chairmen requested some more formal, professionally structured Guidelines to assist them in their role. FIPO produced these Guidelines with input from the GMC, the MDU, the MPS, various hospital providers and the Healthcare Commission. These may have to be revised in 2010 when new regulations concerning Responsible Officers and Revalidation come in to force.
These MAC guidelines were originally circulated to all MAC Chairmen and a hard back copy is available at a price of £10 each. Please send a cheque payable to "FIPO" stating the number of copies required to FIPO, 14 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AA
To see the contents and to download the Guidelines please follow this link...
