The Health Boards (Membership and Elections) (Scotland) Act was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament on 12 March 2009 and will introduce, by way of pilots, elections to Health Boards in Scotland.
The Act changes the constitution of Health Boards in Scotland and in particular changes the way some individuals become members of these Boards by introducing a system of elections whereby a proportion of the membership of each Health Board will be made up of elected members.
The Act also, for the first time, sets out on a statutory basis the membership of local authority councillor members on Health Boards and specifies that there must be at least one member per local authority within a Health Board area. It will also extend the voting franchise to include 16 and 17 year old voters that appear on the local government register.
The pilot elections will take place in Spring 2010 in the NHS Dumfries & Galloway and NHS Fife health board areas. In addition, there will be 2 alternate pilot schemes running at the same time as the elected boards, these will take place in NHS Grampian and NHS Lothian health baord areas. The alternate pilots will look to improve the current systems which are in place to engage and involve the public.
All pilots will be subject to independent evaluation, the report of which will be laid before parliament before any decision on roll out is made. Pilots will run for a minimum of 2 years.
Useful links
Scottish Parliament, Health and Sport Committee
Electoral Commission
News Release - Announcement of Health Board areas