PLC Public Sector reports:
The government’s listening exercise on its proposed NHS reforms is very nearly over and we are promised that details of its outcome will be published shortly. For those that cannot wait to find out the level of changes that the disastrous Liberal Democrat Party showing in the recent elections has necessitated, David Cameron has set out the key concessions that have been made.
For those in local government struggling to get to grips with what impact GP commissioning will have on them, it appears the news is that things are going to get more complicated.
The headline change announced by the Prime Minister is that GP Commissioning is no more. It will be GP, doctor and nurse commissioning with a role promised to all health professionals in planning and buying care. At first glance there seems to be a risk of the whole process becoming completely unmanageable (something about too many cooks …), however, we await the extra detail that should accompany the formal response to the consultation before being able to comment fully.
Also of interest to local authorities will be two commitments the Prime Minister has made relating to the integration of care:
- Firstly, the introduction of new “clinical” senates overseeing the integration of NHS services across an area; and
- Secondly, an obligation for Monitor to promote the integration of care across an area.
While these developments may apply exclusively to NHS and not social care or public health services (again we await the detail), they will surely at the very least impact on partnering between the NHS and local authorities.
For anyone completely confused, there is some good news. The deadline for GP consortia (if that is what they will continue to be known as!) to take on responsibility for commissioning will no longer be fixed as April 2013, with responsibility only transferring as and when consortia are ready.
PLC Public Sector will report on the detail of the changes to the proposals and their impact on local authorities when the government publishes details on the outcome of its consultation exercise.
If all health care professionals will be involved in planning health care, then it would seem that this will include professionals who are employed by Acute hospitals, I wonder if anyone has thought of the conflict of interest issue that may arise, ie those professionals will have an interest in getting the referrals to their hospitals. No doubt this may be an issue when the details of the compostion of the Secnates are published.