CCG allocations revealed: The winners and losers

New funding allocations which favour more deprived areas will see some clinical commissioning groups receive cash growth of up to 15 per cent next year, with others receiving increases of less than 5 per cent. Click here for HSJ article - any log in issues please contact the library

Guidance On Co-Locating Mental Health Therapists In Primary Care

This guidance document has been created to assist GPs, practice managers and commissioners who are integrating mental health therapists into primary care pathways by providing information on how to do this. Click here for see King's Fund blog

Problem Parental Drug And Alcohol Use: A Toolkit For Local Authorities

This toolkit has been developed for commissioners of alcohol and drug services and will also be useful to commissioners of children and family services. It helps commissioners to understand the extent of problem parental alcohol and drug use in their area and how this can impact on children aged between 0 and 18 in the same household. Click here to see King's Fund blog

NHS bodies told to boost mental health funds or face sanctions - The Guardian

NHS bodies that put too little money into improving mental health care have been threatened with sanctions in a crackdown intended to ensure more cash reaches the frontline.  Click here to read further.

NHS England vaccine advice 'increased risk of flu admissions'

More patients may have been admitted to hospital with flu this winter after NHS England asked GPs to order a less expensive flu vaccine, a senior doctor has warned.


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Making Safeguarding Personal What might ‘good’ look like for health and social care commissioners and providers?

Commissioners and providers across the health and social care sectors play a critical part in safeguarding adults, both on the front line and at a strategic level, as partners on safeguarding adults boards.

This resource is intended to support the joined up development of Making Safeguarding Personal across providers and commissioners in health and social care. The essential links between safeguarding and quality in delivering services must be emphasised.

Making strategic commissioning work: lessons from home and away

With the move towards accountable care, clinical commissioners are starting to take on a more strategic role. This report from NHS Clinical Commissioners aims to support commissioners in these new functions by outlining best practice from health systems around the world which are developing policy around new care models and place-based systems of care.

Leading foot health experts call for an end to avoidable amputations

The College of Podiatry is calling on healthcare commissioners to prioritise diabetic foot care and end avoidable amputations that can have a devastating impact on the lives of patients and their families and cost the NHS millions.

Complications from diabetic foot disease are costing the NHS in England more than a billion pounds a year.

The College of Podiatry has launched an online commissioners’ guide that exposes in detail the comparative rates of amputations across England. It is calling on commissioners to take action and help end the postcode lottery of avoidable amputations.

Diabetes and learning disability, reasonable adjustments needed along a diabetes pathway

The prevalence rates of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes were identified to be higher in people with a learning disability compared to the general population.

To ensure the same care is available to people with a learning disability, NHS RightCare has published a pathway for diabetes including the reasonable adjustments expected to be made for people with a learning disability. This document will support commissioners applying the NHS RightCare Pathway for diabetes to people with learning disability, so that all receive the same level of care, understanding and outcomes.

A two-way street: what can CCGs teach us about accountability in STPs?

This report from the Nuffield Trust explores the accountability and performance management arrangements for CCGs and looks at the implications of these for STPs and accountable care systems. It is based on 13 interviews with senior CCG leaders and NHS England policy makers which took place in September 2016.

Commissioning children's palliative care in England: 2017 edition

This report from Together for Short Lives highlights that only a third of CCGs in England are implementing a government commitment to the prioritisation of palliative care for babies, children and young people.

RCOG statement in response to IVF postcode lottery

The number of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England that offer the recommended 3 IVF cycles to eligible women under 40 has halved in the last 5 years, according to latest figures released by Fertility Fairness.

Only 12% follow national guidance, down from 24% in 2013. In contrast, the number of CCGs which have removed NHS IVF has almost doubled in the last year.

The audit of 208 CCGs also reveals the number offering just one NHS-funded IVF cycle which has risen to 61% from 49% in 2013). There are now 7 CCGs that have removed NHS IVF. In 2015, the number of CCGs offering 0 cycles lay at 1 per cent, since then this figure has tripled. 7% of CCGs are currently consulting on removing or reducing NHS fertility treatment. In addition, a league table of 17 ranked positions, so patients can see how their CCG compares to the rest of the country.

Handbook to support the identification of specialised service activity

The purpose of this document from NHS England is to provide guidance to health care providers and commissioner organisations to ensure identification of specialised/prescribed healthcare activities. 

List of prescribed specialised services directly commissioned by NHS England

A list of prescribed specialised services directly commissioned by NHS England as at April 2017.

Enabling providers to develop new care models

Commissioners will play an important role in empowering providers to work together to establish the collaborations that may evolve to become the accountable care systems of the future.  Find out more in these four articles, published by PCC:

• Getting GPs on board remains a big issue for accountable care organisations
• NHS England’s proposed contractual approaches for accountable care models
• Commissioners must drive but leave providers to steer new care models
• Accountable care organisations need support to get GPs’ pay right

What is commissioning and how is it changing?

The current system is based on arrangements set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which aimed to put GPs at the forefront of the commissioning process. Although the structures established by the Act have remained in place since it came into force in 2013, the way that commissioning is delivered in practice has evolved since then – and is continuing to do so.

Key changes include the delegation of some commissioning responsibilities from national to local organisations, greater joint working at a local level, and an increasingly population or ‘place-based’ approach to commissioning. All these changes are intended to support the development of more integrated systems of care, including between health and social care.

Commissioning framework for biological medicines

The purpose of this document from NHS England is to support commissioners to act promptly to make the most of the opportunity presented by increased competition amongst biological medicines, including biosimilar medicines. In particular, this framework seeks to set out the importance of taking a collaborative approach to the commissioning of biological medicines, including biosimilar medicines, from the outset, as well as setting out how this can be achieved.

NHS England funding restrictions under fire after patient's death

A 74-year-old man died of a bleed on his brain after he was refused treatment aimed at preventing strokes. NHS England is assessing the treatment as part of Commissioning Through Evaluation
Charity claims it warned NHS England of potential deaths for more than a year.

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NHS England specialised commissioning service development policy

The service development policy sets out NHS England’s approach for making decisions about which new treatments and interventions to routinely commission, and the approach used for updating existing service specifications, or creating new ones.

Spotlight on specialised services
This report provides an insight into some of the specialised services that are already being delivered and will continue to be rolled out over the coming years in the NHS.

Charging policy 2017-18 / Vacant Space Handback

NHS Property Services’ (NHSPS), in conjunction with NHS England and the Department of Health, has published a refreshed charging policy for 2017-18.

Commissioners can hand back vacant space under a new scheme run by NHS Property Services (NHSPS).