NHS England guidance on managing conflicts of interest
NHS England has just published new guidance on managing conflicts of interest which comes into effect from 1 June 2017.
The guidance aims to:
- Introduce common principles and rules for managing conflicts of interest.
- Provide simple advice to staff and organisations about what to do in common situations.
- Support good judgement about how interests should be approached and managed.
Further information about the guidance is available from NHS England. The full document can be found here but the main elements of the new guidance are:
On gifts staff should:
- Decline anything that may affect their professional judgement
- Decline gifts from suppliers or contractors, save for low cost promotional items up to £6 in value
- Not ask for gifts and decline all offers of cash (or cash vouchers)
- Only accepts gifts with a value over £50 on behalf of their organisation and declare these. The same applies to multiple gifts from the same source with a cumulative value of over £50.
On hospitality staff should:
- Decline anything that may affect their professional judgement
- Accept without declaration hospitality up to £25, declare hospitality between £25 and £75 and refuse hospitality over £75 (unless exceptional senior approval is given)
- Declare modest offers of travel and accommodation and refuse offers which go beyond modest unless senior approval is given. These must also be declared.
On outside employment staff should:
- Declare any outside employment (where, when and what)
- Where contracts permit, seek prior permission from their organisation to engage in outside employment
On shareholdings staff should:
- Declare any shareholdings and ownership interests in companies or organisations which might do business with their organisation
- Not declare shares or securities held in collective investment or pension funds or units of authorised unit trusts
On patents staff should:
- Declare patents and intellectual property rights they hold which are or could be procured by their organisation
- Seek prior permission before entering into agreement with bodies to develop products or other work that impacts on organisational time, equipment or resources
On loyalty interests staff should:
- Declare positions of authority in other organisations that could be seen to influence decisions they take in their NHS role
- Declare when they sit on advisory groups or similar forums
- Declare involvement in recruiting people they know
- Declare when people they know do business with their organisation
On donations staff should:
- Seek prior organisational approval to engage in fundraising as part of their professional role
- Not routinely accept donations from suppliers
- Not solicit charitable donations unless this is a part of their role
- Ensure donations are made to a charitable fund, not an individual
On sponsored events staff should:
- Declare involvement with a sponsored event
- Not supply information which would allow a sponsor to gain commercial advantage
- Ensure that sponsors do not have a dominant influence over events and make their involvement transparent
On sponsored research staff should:
- Declare involvement with sponsored research to their organisation
- Ensure appropriate approvals are received
On sponsored posts staff should:
- Seek prior approval before undertaking a sponsored post
- Not promote or favour sponsor’s products or be unduly influenced
On clinical private practice staff should:
- Seek prior organisational approval.
- Declare any clinical private practice (where, when and what)
- Ensure NHS commitments take precedence
Budget 2017 (22 Mar 2017)
Rt Hon Theresa May MP’s first and final Spring 2017 Budget as PM was delivered on Wednesday 8 March. Future Budget statements will be delivered in the Autumn to allow...GP State of Emergency update March 2017 (22 Mar 2017)
Our GP State of Emergency campaign is almost a year old and continues to go from strength-to-strength, with the website just passing 10,000 downloads of template letters, posters and guidance...Londonwide LMCs' March 2017 newsletter (22 Mar 2017)
Impact of IR35 changes on practices : New Guidance (22 Mar 2017)
The IR35 has been introduced as an anti-tax avoidance mechanism and applies to those organisations defined as a ‘public authority’ under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. For NHS purposes...Unresourced and unfunded work (22 Mar 2017)
Our November 2016 workforce survey showed significant demand for work outside of core contract being put on responding practices. Of the 12 types of work not covered by core that...Child safeguarding reports – where does your practice stand with local authorities? (22 Mar 2017)
This item was originally published in April 2017, following feedback from LMCs we can now add that Hammersmith and Fulham Council do pay GPs for child protection reports and have a...Winter Indemnity Scheme extended to cover Easter weekend 2017 (20 Mar 2017)
NHS England’s Winter Indemnity Scheme has been extended to run until 17 April 2017, a month longer than originally intended. The extension has been introduced with a particular view to...Premises fact sheet - service charges for CHP and NHS Property Services tenants (17 Mar 2017)
We are aware that some practices are experiencing substantial increases in premises service charges and difficulties in understanding their invoices. We have produced a fact sheet to support you; we...GPC election results 2017 (16 Mar 2017)
Dr Michelle Drage has been re-elected to the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, Dr Pamela Martin from Lewisham has also been elected. Their specific constituencies are: Dr Michelle Drage representing Hillingdon,...NHSPS debt recovery letters error (09 Mar 2017)
The British Medical Association (BMA) have notified us that they have been in discussion with NHS Property Services (NHSPS) over ongoing issues with the approach NHSPS has with practices. However,...Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.