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The Department of Health has issued a consultation document  “Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS”, published on 12 July, setting out their proposals for putting local consortia of GP practices in charge of commissioning services to best meet the needs of local people, supported by an independent NHS Commissioning Board.  The eagerly awaited detail of how the white paper reorganisation will be implemented outlines:

• 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
• And how the NHS Commissioning Board can best support consortia and ensure they achieve improvements in outcomes within NHS resources.

• The roles and responsibilities of an accountable officer required for each GP Consortia
  The remuneration framework for GPs taking on all the additional financial and commissioning responsibility
• What a failure regime would look like (if a provider service was left unviable as a result of commissioning decisions)
• Commenting on the launch of the consultation, Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of BMA Council, said the document provided more detail about the government's plans for GP commissioning, but there were still many questions that needed answering.

"This is a challenging agenda, but the BMA is committed to try to find workable solutions that will fully engage both primary and secondary care doctors and the public so that by working in partnership they can achieve the best outcomes for patients," Dr Meldrum said.

The BMA will be publishing its own proposals on how GP commissioning could be made to work.

Last Updated on Friday, 04 March 2011 12:38