commissioning

Commissioning in the NHS is the process of ensuring that the health and care services provided effectively meet the needs of the population. It is a complex process with responsibilities ranging from assessing population needs, prioritising health outcomes, procuring products and services, and managing service providers.

Our commissioning Blogs

NICE recommends an integrated approach for the care of people with drug use disorders

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NICE have published a new quality standard aimed at supporting the recovery for adults with drug use disorders, including opioids, cannabis, stimulants and other drugs. This set of documents on drug use disorders now sits beside the existing NICE quality standards on dementia, depression in adults, alcohol dependence and service user experiences of adult mental [read the full story…]

A public health approach to violence prevention: new report from the Department of Health

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The Department of Health have commissioned the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO) to produce a high level report to provide information and evidence for policy makers, public health staff and commissioners to use in developing preventative approaches to violence. The report entitled ‘Protecting People, Promoting Health – A public health approach to violence prevention [read the full story…]

New QIPP case studies from NICE

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If you work in the NHS, public health or social care, you’ve probably heard of QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention), but have you heard of the QIPP collection? It’s a website run by NICE that contains: QIPP case studies – examples of how health and social care staff are improving quality and productivity across [read the full story…]

A joined-up solution for social inclusion and mental health recovery: new briefing from the Centre for Mental Health

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Recovery is an increasingly popular concept and philosophy in mental health circles and rightly so. Many of us who have direct experience of suffering from a mental health condition extol the virtues of an educational self management approach that helps individuals to take responsibility for themselves.  This kind of approach can help us develop the [read the full story…]

Can joint personal budgets help bridge the gap between health and social care provision?

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This new briefing from the NHS Confederation introduces joint personal budgets for health and social care. It gives the context behind their development, explains how they might work and lists some of the issues that need to be considered before they could be used at scale. Delivering integrated care is obviously hugely beneficial to the [read the full story…]

Understanding the mental health marketplace in England: new briefing from the NHS Confederation

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This new briefing paper from the NHS Confederation provides a clear overview of the mental health marketplace in England. Over £7 billion was invested in adult and older people mental health services in 2010/11. Most providers of services are statutory organisations, but there are also many charities, companies and social enterprises who make up the market. [read the full story…]

New briefings to help develop better local mental health services

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A partnership of leading mental health charities has launched a series of briefings to help develop better local mental health services. Following the publication of the implementation framework for the Government’s mental health strategy, these briefings set out the steps that local authorities and NHS commissioning groups can take to improve mental health care, treatment [read the full story…]

Scotland sees increase in prescribing rates for mental health drugs

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The Scottish Government have published their annual summary of prescribing statistics for mental health drugs. The report shows increases in the prescribing rates for all groups of drugs over the last 12 months. The prescribing costs of some groups of drugs have also risen (ADHD, dementia, depression) although other groups have seen a decline (insomnia [read the full story…]

Personalisation and personal budgets can support recovery and transform mental health services, according to new report

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This new briefing paper from the NHS Confederation and the Centre for Mental Health looks at the impact that personalisation and recovery are having on mental health services in England. The first part of this paper describes personalisation, personal budgets and personal health budgets. The second sets out their shared philosophy and discusses what the [read the full story…]

Audit Commission publishes annual report on the Payment by Results data assurance programme

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The Audit Commission’s Payments by Results (PbR) data assurance programme helps improve data quality in the NHS. For the past 5 years they have provided assurance over the quality of the data that underpins payments made under PbR. In 2011/12 they: Reviewed commissioner arrangements to secure good data quality on the information that underpins PbR [read the full story…]