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Appointment of consultants

  • Last modified date:
    22 February 2007

The guidance below is for use by NHS Trusts, Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities when making appointments to consultant posts. It provides good practice guidance on the NHS (Appointment of Consultants) Amendment Regulations 2004 (Statutory Instrument 2004 No. 3365)

This guidance updates the NHS (Appointment of Consultants) Regulations 1996 Good Practice Guidance and is provided as a checklist to cover all elements of consultant appointments procedure. The overriding aim must be to ensure that the best candidate for the job is appointed and that the process of appointment is fair, open and consistent. Employing bodies will need to ensure that their local appointments procedures achieve this aim.

The regulations and direction provide the statutory basis for consultant appointments and their provision must be followed by employing bodies. They apply to the appointment of consultants in hospital medicine and dentistry, public health medicine and communicable disease control and dental public health in England only. The regulations and subsequent amendments do not apply to NHS Foundation Trusts although they can follow this guidance when appointing to a consultant post if they so choose.

Consultant appointments, with certain specified exemptions, are made by employing bodies on the advice of an Advisory Appointments Committee (AAC), a legally constituted committee established by an employing body.

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