In response to mounting pressure for greater transparency on declaration of interests within the NHS, in October 2016, NHS England released a consultation document for 'Managing Conflicts of Interest'.
In February 2017 NHS England followed up and published 'Managing Conflicts of Interest in the NHS, Guidance for Staff and Organisations', which sets down guidance for all NHS Organisations to follow as from 1st June 2017.
In response to the new requirements we have taken on-board a one stop website solution, Declare, that deals with all areas of the guidance. Our staff can login to this website and fully comply with the guidance.
BTHFT Privacy Notice for Decision Makers
As a ‘decision-maker’ here at BTHFT (see our Conflicts of Interest Policy), you are required to make an annual declaration of any actual /potential conflicts that you may have; i.e. outside employment; or provide a nil declaration return.
As part of our contractual requirements with NHS England, and as set out in the NHS Standard Contract, we are required to publish all declarations made by decision makers, which includes the following information:
· Your full name
· Job title
· Date and time the declaration was submitted
· All details entered into the Declare System relating to the declaration
In addition to the above; from1st April 2022, we are now also required to publish the name and position of any ‘Decision-Making Staff’ who has not completed a declaration of interest or submitted a nil return in respect of that contract year, as required under ‘Managing Conflicts of Interest in the NHS’.
Decision-Maker declarations will be published for a period of 6 months (unless open-ended), unless you can demonstrate a real danger of harm should the declaration go into the public domain.