The Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health (JCP-MH) have published the first of their guides aimed at GPs who will soon be commissioning mental health services. Each of the guides provide a description of what a ‘good’ service configuration should look like, and brings together scientific evidence, service user and carer experience, and case studies [read the full story…]
The NHS Commissioning Board has published a series of resources which may be useful for emerging clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). They include guidance and process documents, toolkits and other information around authorisation, governance, establishment and commissioning support. Developing Clinical Commissioning Groups: Towards authorisation (PDF) was published back in September 2011. It is now accompanied by Towards establishment: [read the full story…]
In April 2013, subject to the Health and Social Care Bill becoming law, local authorities will become responsible for commissioning drug treatment and recovery services. An effective approach to tackling substance misuse will require partnership working across local authorities, health bodies and criminal justice agencies. The object is not only for individuals to overcome dependency, [read the full story…]
In mental health there has not been a consistent set of definitions that describe what is meant by an inpatient bed. This has led to difficulty in benchmarking and understanding patterns of performance. Understanding how inpatient beds and community services can best be utilised as part of a reshaped pathway, and whether the number of [read the full story…]
The second issue of the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare has been published by the Department of Health as part of the QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention) programme. The aim of the Atlas is to reduce unwarranted variation in healthcare, increase value for money and improve quality of care. The idea behind this [read the full story…]
There is a risk that the new national NHS systems for payment by results are being developed in ways that will clash with the delivery of personalisation, according to a new discussion document published this week by the National Development Team for Inclusion. The report describes how, if the aims of both the payment by [read the full story…]
The most recent MeReC Bulletin (December 2011) considers the problem of the implementation gap: the best evidence often does not get adopted quickly into practice. It highlights relevant evidence and ideas from educational theory, decision-making theory, information management and implementation science and brings them together in one place. It is intended to encourage a fresh [read the full story…]
Policy on the role of specialist doctors in the NHS reforms is not fit for purpose, according to a discussion paper published today by the NHS Alliance. Specialists in Commissioning: Looking beyond current policy discusses the views of GPs and specialists on current policy on specialists in Clinical Commissioning Groups. The paper calls for policy [read the full story…]
Mental health commissioners will be interested in this new report from the Alzheimer’s Society and MHP Health Mandate, that was published just before Christmas. It follows on from the publication of the Department of Health’s Dementia Commissioning Pack back in July 2011. The report looks at the current policy landscape and how it relates to [read the full story…]
Unless policy-makers take active steps to ensure that the rhetoric of clinically-led commissioning reflects a multi-professional approach that put nurses at the heart of commissioning and delivery, the potential to improve health care for patients will not be realised, says Nurses in Commissioning Network. According to Involving Nurses in Commissioning: How to Get it Right [read the full story…]
