PLC Public Sector reports:
The government’s much debated Health and Social Care Bill has now survived (relatively unscathed) a “listening exercise” and an attack in the House of Lords led by Lord Owen with the intention of sending the Bill to a Select Committee to examine and make recommendations on various issues raised by Parliament’s Constitution Committee (or to put it another way, kick it away to the long grass).
It appears that (subject to the inevitable further challenges that will be made) the changes are coming and NHS commissioning will fundamentally change. PLC Public Sector have been looking at the key changes and what commissioners, and those advising them need to know, in advance of them coming into force.
The Bill is now at committee stage in the House of Lords and is expected to make it on to the statute book at the end of this year, or more likely early next. However, the key date for commissioners is April 2013, the date on which the new clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) may (but are no longer obliged to) take on responsibility for NHS commissioning in their areas.
PLC Public Sector has been working with Varya Shaw, a journalist who specialises in issues that affect public bodies, to get the views of industry experts on the key challenges that face commissioners, and how these issues should be addressed. Contributors include:
- Bill Gilliam, head of health, Eversheds LLP.
- James Clarke, partner, Capsticks LLP.
- David Owens, partner, Bevan Brittan LLP.
- Susan Thompson, partner, Beachcroft.
- Natasha Curry, senior fellow, the Nuffield Trust.
The key issues focused on include:
- Managing the handover from a PCT to a CCG.
- The support that will be available to CCGs post-April 2013.
- The risk of health contracts being challenged under the public procurement regime.
- The necessary relationships between CCGs and hospitals.
- The potential for ongoing NHS and local authority partnerships.
PLC Public Sector has now published, with free access for all, a report detailing the views of the experts on these issues, together with:
- A look at what commissioning in the health sector actually entails.
- The basis for the changes being made and a look at how the NHS will look once the Bill is fully in force.
- A quick guide to the structure of the NHS that currently exists.
For more information, see Health and Social Care Bill: commissioning and the health care market in the post-reform NHS.