http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/LiberatingtheNHS/index.htm

Judy Viitanen believes Lansley and the Government need to factor in safeguards to ensure GPs are competent and appropriately incentivised to commission health services! A total focus on a medical model to revolutionise NHS services could risk diluting the great potential and benefits of other primary care services - community pharmacy, optical services, dentistry etc - and their valuable role in public health.

We were amused by Burnham’s quote that ‘PCTs are screwed’ in response to Lansley statement!

We are especially pleased that “Patients will be in charge of making decisions about their care.” … and their carers.

Implications

implications for all health organisations in the NHS and very significant changes for PCTs and SHAs: PCTs will go by April 2013! Many staff will be worried … Thank God we have an end to tick-box targets! GP commissioning to be compulsory and ‘management allowances’ to fund it.

• patients at the centre of the NHS
• empowering clinicians and GPs in particular
• refocusing the NHS on outcome measurement.
  

The key highlights of the document, entitled Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, are listed below:

· Put patients right at the heart of decisions made about their care

· Put clinicians in the driving seat on decisions about services

· Focus NHS on delivering health outcomes comparable with, or even better than, those of our international neighbours

· Introducing an Outcomes Framework to set out what the service should achieve leaving the professionals to develop how

· General Practices responsibility for commissioning NHS services

· Real, local democratic accountability to healthcare

· Reward commissioners for delivering care in line with quality

· The Outcomes Framework will be supported by clinically established quality standards

· Reform the payment system in the NHS

· Patients will be at the heart of the new NHS. Our guiding principle will be ‘no decision about me, without me’

· Extend ‘personal budgets’, giving patients with long-term conditions real choices about their care

· An independent and accountable NHS Commissioning Board will be established

· The Care Quality Commission will safeguard standards of safety and quality

· Detailed consultation documents will enable people to comment on the implementation of this strategy

· Ensure patients’ voices are heard, so we will establish ‘HealthWatch’

· All NHS trusts will become Foundation Trusts

· Reduce the Department of Health’s NHS functions

· Phase out the top-down management hierarchy

· Publish a report setting out the future of NHS-related quangos. Meaning a reduction of at least a 1/3

· Reduce the Department of Health’s NHS functions

· Patients will have choice over treatment options

· All GPs expected to join commissioning consortia by 2012, says the white paper

Strategy:

• The government will devolve power and responsibility for commissioning services to GPs and practice teams working in consortia.
• Every GP will be a member of a ’shadow’ consortium by 2011/12.
• Consortia will start taking on duties from 2012/13 and full financial responsibility from April 2013.
• Management allowances will be available to help fund commissioning.
• An independent and accountable NHS commissioning board will allocate and account for NHS resources.
• NHS commissioning board will calculate practice-level budgets and allocate these directly to consortia and will hold practices to account.
• GP consortia will include an accountable officer.
• Each consortium will hold its constituent practices to account.
• GP consortia will agree local priorities each year, taking account of the NHS Outcomes Framework.
• GPs will need to engage patients and the public in the commissioning process.
• Over time the DoH will seek to establish a single GP contract and funding model.
• PCTs and SHAs will be phased out.
• Patients will be able to choose which GP practice they register with regardless of where they live.
• The current performance regime will be replaced with separate frameworks for public health and social care.
• A new NHS Outcomes Framework will provide the direction for the NHS.
• The government will incentivise ways of improving access to primary care in disadvantaged areas.