Commissioning healthcare services

Commissioning healthcare servicesNHS commissioning is the systematic process used to ensure that the services provided match the health needs of the population. It involves planning, setting priorities, funding and procuring services that deliver the best care to match patient needs.

A PCT's commissioning functions and responsibilities are complex and include:

  • Engaging with its local population in order to improve the user experience and offer a greater choice of care.
  • Improving the health of the population through identifying unmet health need and reducing health inequalities.
  • Enabling easier access to a comprehensive and equitable range of high quality, responsive services.
  • Ensuring the delivery of efficient services within allocated resources, ensuring best value at all times.

The Improvement Foundation continues to be at the forefront of this developing agenda, having offered a range of programmes to support commissioning and its outcomes since 2003.

The Improvement Foundation is currently offering an Advanced Commissioning Course - to develop clinicians and managers to lead commissioning - and a World Class Commissioning Programme.

The learning from the National Primary Care Contracting Collaborative (NPCCC) and from the West Yorkshire Programme was used to develop the Improvement Foundation's national Practice Based Commissioning Development Programme, which was commissioned by the Department of Health in 2006.

The NPCCC focused on redesigning improved services in sexual health, mental health and implementing the Unique Care - integrated care for people with complex needs model for vulnerable patients, as well as redesigning commissioning systems.

The West Yorkshire Programme focused on redesigning care pathways in urology, orthopaedics and ear, nose and throat, as well as redesigning commissioning systems in PCTs.

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