All Primary care contracts and commissioning articles – Page 33
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NewsLondon in talks over PCT mergers
NHS London and the Department of Health are in talks about merging London’s 31 primary care trusts into just six bodies, HSJ has learned.
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NewsNicholson steps up reform with radical savings move
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has paved the way for primary care trusts to be merged as a means to make significant savings while implementing the health white paper.
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News
BMA advice suggests 100 commissioning groups for England
The BMA GP Committee has published guidance for GPs on forming commissioning consortia.
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LeaderIt’s not just commissioning – who will fill the PCT vacuum?
Margaret Angier had news for the readers of the Sheffield Telegraph. The chair of a local mental health group, Ms Angier wrote to the paper about the government’s health reforms.
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CommentChris J Hawkey: A new opening for transparency
Clinicians must put away self-interest if they are to earn the new powers set out in the white paper
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NewsEmergency admissions bypassing GP referrals
The government may be over-estimating the ability of GPs to control emergency admissions.
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CommentNoel Plumridge on axes and accountability
A useful little word the French have borrowed from English in recent times is un tilt. Derived from pinball, a primitive pre-Super Mario form of entertainment now virtually extinct, it denotes in French a sudden, unforeseen and complete disruption of previous plans. Game over.
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NewsBMA warned position on GP consortia may be illegal
GP consortia would be “unwise” and potentially acting illegally if they picked NHS organisations as providers of choice, the NHS Confederation has warned.
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CommentNHS reorganisation: don't leave the patients behind
It could be the language that seals the deal. New Labour’s mission got lost in a technocratic haze, so a white paper more comfortable with the vernacular of the voluntary sector is helping patient groups swallow the pill of another reorganisation while showing genuine enthusiasm for the changes ahead.
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NewsGP largesse alarms Lansley’s colleagues
The prospect of GPs blowing the NHS commissioning budget remains the prime concern of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s Westminster colleagues.
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NewsGPs pose £2bn threat to commissioning budget
GP commissioners blew their budgets by a net 2.5 per cent last financial year, exclusive analysis by HSJ reveals.
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NewsBMA sets out principles for GP commissioning
GPs must not be allowed to profit personally from commissioning, according to the British Medical Association.
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NewsPCTs rein in management consultant spending
There is significant variation in the use of management consultancy this financial year by primary care trusts, information collected by HSJ reveals.
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NewsPCT support agency will look beyond London
The organisation set up to support the capital’s primary care trust commissioners is looking to offer its services beyond London, its chair has told HSJ.
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Blogs
'The coalition’s distrust of managers means the usual options are closed'
The health white paper has set out a clear direction of travel, but it is far from a done deal.
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NewsPCT and UnitedHealth end deal
NHS Northamptonshire has terminated its contract for commissioning support with UnitedHealth UK a year early.
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NewsGP referral management schemes fail to deliver
GP consortia should move away from using referral management schemes when they take control of NHS commissioning, as the schemes do not save money. A report by the King’s Fund also warned they can undermine quality of care.
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Comment'How is the state going to conscript GPs?'
In seeking to diminish the role of the state, the government has established a policy that attacks NHS bosses as the cause of most problems and abolishes state run primary care trusts and strategic health authorities. Instead, it proposes GP led consortia to do commissioning.
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NewsWorld class commissioning values are a legacy for the long haul
Latest world class commissioning scores show PCTs rising to new challenges in needs assessment and service design. With this responsibility transferring to GP consortia the lessons in the high quality ‘competencies’ must survive, says David Stout
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LeaderWorld class commissioning: this ridiculed plan might just be working
World class commissioning arrived too late and burdened with a name that virtually guaranteed ridicule. But, unfashionable though it may be to say, it is beginning to deliver results.