Recommendation 16: Medical Executive Committee

The senior medical staff with clinical sessions at the hospital, together with representatives of other medical staff, should constitute a Medical Executive Committee, electing a Chairman whose appointment should be subject to yearly renewal. The Chief Nursing Officer and other professional heads, including the local Directors of Social Services, would no doubt be invited to attend as appropriate. It would ease communications if the Group Secretary could be appointed its Secretary. The Committee’s task should be to co-ordinate medical policies not only for Whittingham Hospital, including Ribchester, but also the psychiatric unit at Sharoe Green and the out-patient departments and new psychiatric facilities planned for the Preston Group.