CommissioningCommissioning in the NHS is the process by which it ensures that health and care services are provided most effectively and meet the needs of the population. It is a complex process with responsibilities ranging from assessing population needs and prioritising health outcomes, to procuring products and services, and managing service providers.
Commissioning Made Simple It is important that LOCs/ROCs understand the commissioning process from the PCT or Health Board's point of view. It is only by understanding the pressures that commissioners work under and what their criteria for success are, that LOCs/ROCs will learn how to tailor their tenders and business plans appropriately. LOCSU has produced an information leaflet explaining the commissioning process which you can access by clicking here.
Department of Health - Commissioning Toolkit for Community Based Eye Care Services 2007
The Department of Health launced its toolkit for community based eye care services in January 2007. This toolkit, emerging from the General Ophthalmic Services Review, builds on the work of the Eye Care Services Steering Group and their pilot eye care pathways. It is intended to offer practical advice for Primary Care Trusts and practice based commissioners on commissioning community based eye care services. The toolkit is available as a pdf document below or click here for more information on the Department of Health website.
NHS Primary Care Contracting - Community Eye Care Services: Review of local schemes for low vision, glaucoma and acute care 2007
This document is a review of local examples of community eye care services. It was part of the Department of Health's on-going programme of support for community eye care services in partnership with NHS Primary Care Contracting. It complements and sits alongside the Department of Health's 'Commissioning Toolkit for Community based Eye Care Services', referred to above. The PCC review document supports the delivery of key Department of Health policy objectives for both the commissioning and provision of high quality local services, closer to where patients live, moving appropriate primary care services outside the hospital setting, and providing greater choice and accessibility of services to patients. Please click the pdf document below for a copy of the review.
Department of Health/NHS Primary Care Contracting - Step-by-Step Guide to Commissioning Community Eye Care Services 2007
The purpose of this guide is to provide information and practical tools for PCTs and Practice Based Commissioners as they commission enhanced primary eye care services. It complements and builds on the two publications listed above - the Department of Health 'Commissioning Toolkit for Community based Eye Care Services' and the NHS Primary Care Contracting 'Review of Local Schemes for Low Vision, Glaucoma and Acute Care'. PCC states that while the guide was designed primarily for managers with commissioning support responsibillty at Practice Based Commissioning (PBC) level and commissionig managers in PCTs, it will also be of interest to community optometrists and LOCs - in fact all those involved in the delivery of local eye care services. The guide is available in pdf format below.
Commissioning Enhanced Optometric/Optical Services
Please click here for information on the support and advice which LOCSU makes available to LOCs/ROCs who wish to get involved in the development of enhanced services locally. World Class CommissioningWorld Class Commissioning (WCC) - adding years to life and life to years The Department of Health's World Class Commissioning (WCC) programme aims to dramatically transform the way health and care services are commissioned in this country. By strengthening commissioning capability, the Department of Health proposes to deliver better health and well-being for all, better care for all and better value for all. World class commissioning will deliver a more strategic and long-term approach to commissioning services, with a clear focus on delivering improved health outcomes. There are four key elements to the programme; a vision for world class commissioning, a set of world class commissioning competencies, an assurance system and a support and development framework. Please click here for full details of what WCC entails.
WCC - High Quality Care for All - Primary Care and Community Services - Improving Eye Health Services
The Department of Health published this document in July 2009 to provide practical advice on how PCTs can assess their current performance; identify their vision for the future and commission services that meet the needs of their local communities. Its target audience, in addition to PCTs, is SHAs and Directors of Commissioning. You can view a film of extracts from the launch of the document by Leslie Anne Alexander, the RNIB Chief Executive, with comments from Trevor Warburton, Chairman of LOCSU Clinical Advisory Group on Ot.tv
LOCs/ROCs and World Class Commissioning
World Class Commissioning (WCC) is a fairly new term but it represents a major change in the way that services are commissioned. It is essential that you understand the reasoning behind WCC and use that reasoning in developing your business strategies. In the past, services tended to be commissioned as they always had been, simply because that was the custom. Then there came a time of questioning whether those ways of delivering care were really the best way, but again the methodology was still very much driven by tradition and reducing costs and waiting lists. World Class Commissioning signifies a departure from that way of doing things. It is based on a very simple quote, all about "adding life to years and years to life. Better health and well being for all, better care for all and better value for all".
Opportunities for Optometry
This new approach presents so many opportunities to optometry when considering new ways of delivering services. Many of these considerations may move the profession away from the usual "sight testing" role but would very much fit in with the role of optometry being part of the front line for primary care services. PCTs will be required to develop innovative partnerships with clinicians and providers as well as patients, general members of the public and local authorities, in order to achieve their aims. By developing closer links with all the service providers, they will be able to meet longer term priorities, thereby shifting the focus of care from the traditional stance of diagnosis and treatment to one of prevention and well being. This aspiration fits extraordinarily well with what optometrist can offer in modern primary care services and is, in fact, nothing new to most practitioners. World Class Commissioning states that clinical involvement will be a key to success. It acknowledges that clinicians have an important role to play in assessing local needs and shaping priorities because clinicians understanding patient needs. They will, therefore, be crucial to designing high quality, personalised health and care services. This is where it will be vital for optometrists to form close links with their PBC groups, for it is within those groups that the decisions on commissioned services are taken. Competencies in World Class Commissioning Currently, many PCT commissioners are going through training to ensure that their PCT can meet the requirements of World Class Commissioning. You can, therefore, be assured you will not be met by blank faces when you start using WCC terminology. In fact you may well be pleasantly surprised to find you could well be ahead of the game. When trained, these world class commissioners will have to be able to achieve results against a set of competencies: •locally lead the NHS
•work with community partners
•engage with public and patients
•collaborate with clinicians
•manage knowledge and assess needs
•prioritise investment
•stimulate the market
•promote improvement and innovation
•secure procurement skills
•manage the local health system
•make sound financial investments With these competencies in mind, make yourself familiar with what drives commissioners locally. Why not encourage the LOC to invite a lead commissioner to come and present at a meeting of local optometrists on their role as a commissioner? You could then find out what they really expect of you. Involve them in your planning processes. You may well be amazed how much useful information you can gain, both in terms of vital local statistical information and also in terms of information about rival systems being proposed.
The LOC Support Unit can assist LOCs in developing both 'commissioner' and 'provider' business cases.
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