The Government’s White Paper, 'Equality and excellence: liberating the NHS' set out proposals for putting local consortia of GP practices in charge of commissioning services, accountable to an independent NHS Commissioning Board.
The Department of Health has launched a consultation and engagement process on how it should implement these proposals. The document ‘Liberating the NHS: commissioning for patients’ [pdf] provides more detail on proposed arrangements and seeks views on a on a number of areas including:
- How GP consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board can best involve patients in improving the quality of health services
- How GP consortia can work closely with secondary care, community partners and other health and care professionals to design joined-up services that are responsive to patients and the public
- How the NHS Commissioning Board and GP consortia can best work together to make effective and efficient commissioning decisions
- How the NHS Commissioning Board can best support consortia and ensure they achieve improvements in outcomes within NHS resources
The commissioning reforms have significant implications for the future of alcohol treatment and prevention services. A Powerpoint summary is also available: Liberating the NHS: Commissioning for patients - [PPT]
The consultation closes on 11 October 2010.
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