There is a risk that the new national NHS systems for payment by results are being developed in ways that will clash with the delivery of personalisation, according to a new discussion document published this week by the National Development Team for Inclusion.

The report describes how, if the aims of both the payment by results and personalisation policies are to be achieved, they need to be developed in an integrated way within the context of whole system commissioning.

The approach being taken to introduce payment by results in mental health care is to cluster people into groups according to their needs and clinical description. Personalisation is concerned with people having greater control over their services so they can achieve better life outcomes.

NDTi Associate Anita Cameron, the report’s author, said

The impacts of Payment by Results, personalisation and recovery should be significant and positive in terms of the way things are done, attitudes, approaches and outcomes for people. Our interest is to help ensure that the drive for better value for money also leads to the greater empowerment and improved outcomes that the personalisation and recovery agendas are calling for. We are concerned that the current plans for payment by results in mental health are not achieving this. Unless the two policies start to be delivered in tandem, they will undermine each other’s chance of success.

Links

Getting it together for mental health care (PDF). National Development Team for Inclusion, 17 Jan 2012.

Payment by Results: tools, resources and guidance. NHS Confederation Mental Health Network.