Proactive care programme: CCG support for implementation

"This document is supporting guidance for CCGs for the Avoiding Unplanned Admissions enhanced service (ES) which is designed to help reduce avoidable unplanned admissions by improving services for vulnerable patients and those with complex physical or mental health needs, who are at high risk of hospital admission or re-admission."

Proactive care programme: CCG support for implementation
NHS England
May 2014

Read more here.

Developing pharmacy’s contribution to public health

"The challenge is to ensure that commissioners, both national and local, understand fully the contribution pharmacy can, and now is, making to health and wellbeing. Investment will be required, through a combination of pump priming, cascade funding, commissioning budgets, and/or local procurement. But the potential health dividends and financial savings far outweigh the investment costs." 

Developing pharmacy’s contribution to public health: a progress report from the Pharmacy and Public Health Forum
Public Health England
June 2014 

Read more here.

Local Authority health scrutiny

"The primary aim of health scrutiny is to strengthen the voice of local people, ensuring that their needs and experiences are considered as an integral part of the commissioning and delivery of health services and that those services are effective and safe." 

Local Authority health scrutiny: guidance to support Local Authorities and their 
partners to deliver effective health scrutiny
Department of Health
June 2014

Read more here.

Commissioning Excellence newsletter

The latest issue of Commissioning Excellence from the Primary Care Commissioning CIC is available here.

CCG Learning Environment

The NHS England/NHS Commissioning Assembly Learning Environment hosts a range of knowledge sharing tools for CCGs, allowing them to share best practice and seek advice and support. The website includes case studies, private forums, a search tool to identify similar CCGs, and a directory of support providers.

Find out more and access all the resources here.

Health and Wellbeing Boards & Hepatitis C

"Based on evidence from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment process, health and wellbeing boards should ensure the local authority public health departments work closely with CCGs to commission testing for at risk groups and, for those diagnosed, coordinated care pathways through to treatment and care."

Health and Wellbeing Boards & Hepatitis C: a review of the evidence from Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies

HCV Action

May 2014 

 

Read more here.

Prescribed specialised services advisory group: recommendations to ministers

"This report sets out the recommendations that the Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group made at its meetings of 3 September 2013 and 17 September 2013 on the services to be directly commissioned by NHS England." 

Prescribed specialised services advisory group: recommendations to ministers 

Department of Health

May 2014

Read more here.

Quality Premium: 2014/15 guidance for CCGs

"The Quality Premium is intended to reward clinical commissioning groups for improvements of the quality of health services they commission and for associated improvements in health outcomes and reducing inequalities."

Quality Premium: 2014/15 guidance for CCGs
NHS England, Commissioning Development, Commissioning Policy and Primary Care
March 2014

Read more here.

Commissioning primary care: transforming healthcare in the community

“To provide patients with integrated services, clinical commissioners need to be able to develop and implement a ‘whole-system’ commissioning strategy that brings together primary, community and acute services”

Commissioning primary care: transforming healthcare in the community
NHS Clinical Commissioners
February 2014

Read more here.

Commissioning for value data packs

"NHS England provided every CCG with a comprehensive data pack in October 2013 and area teams in March 2014 to support effective ‘commissioning for value’.

The packs fit directly with NHS England’s ‘call to action’ – planning to make the NHS sustainable into the future – and clearly show area teams and CCGs ‘where to look’ as a first stage to identify real opportunities to improve outcomes and increase value for local populations."

Find out more and access all the resources here.

Clinical commissioning groups – one year on

"In this audio slideshow, Holly Holder, Fellow in Health Policy, Nuffield Trust, presents the key findings from a survey of GPs in six clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The survey explored member engagement and primary care development one year after CCGs were introduced."

Holly Holder: clinical commissioning groups – one year on

Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund 

April 2014

Find out more here.

Securing excellence in GP IT services

"This document sets out the operating arrangements for the delivery of GP IT services across England. It outlines clear accountability, responsibility and financing support for general practice in England to receive high quality IT support services."

Securing excellence in GP IT services: operating model, 2nd edition (2014-16)
NHS England
April 2014

Read more here.

Blood Sugar Rush: Diabetes time bomb in London

"The London Assembly Health Committee has sought to tease out what is driving the increase in Type 2 diabetes across London, and how the delivery of diabetes care is managed and where improvements can be made in providing that care."

Blood Sugar Rush: Diabetes time bomb in London 
London Assembly Health Committee
April 2014

Read more here.

Personal health budgets: including people with learning disabilities

"Implementing personal health budgets for people with learning disabilities can improve the quality of support, and thus the quality of life, for individuals and their families."

Personal health budgets: including people with learning disabilities
S Turner, A Giraud-Saunders
Think Local Act Personal

February 2014

Read more here.

Voluntary organisations experiences of local health organisations

"In March 2014 NAVCA published three research briefings exploring local charities and voluntary organisations attitudes and experiences of local health organisations. The three reports explore the extent to which they feel able to influence Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNA) and the nature of their relationship with local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local Healthwatch."

Find out more and access the reports here.

Improving general practice - phase one report

"This report focuses on the central role we want general practice to play in wider systems of primary care, and it describes our ambition for greater collaboration with CCGs in the commissioning of general practice. Transformational change will be led locally, but we outline the work underway nationally to support it."

Improving general practice - A call to action: phase one report
B Dyson
NHS England
March 2014

Read more here.

Bite-size guides to support patient and public participation

NHS England has developed four bite-size guides to support patient and public participation in the NHS. These guides are linked to the Transforming participation in Health and Social Care guidance (published September 2013).

Access the guides via the following links:

1. Principles for Participation in Commissioning
2. Governance for Participation
3. Planning for Participation
4. Budgeting for Participation

Joined up clinical pathways for obesity

"NHS England should in the medium term prioritise early consideration of the transfer of the majority of adult bariatric surgery to local commissioning, through CCGs, once they have been shown to be functioning well with sufficent volume of patients to justify de-specialising the service."

Report of the working group into: Joined up clinical pathways for obesity
Jamie Blackshaw, S Montel, S King, A Jarvis, J Valabhji
NHS England
March 2014

Read more here.

How is the health and social care system performing?

"The Quarterly monitoring report combines publicly available data on selected NHS performance measures with views from NHS trust finance directors, clinical commissioning group (CCG) finance leads, and local authority directors of adult social services."

How is the health and social care system performing? Quarterly monitoring report
The King's Fund
January 2014

Read more here.

Commissioning regional and local sexual health services

"These resources can help commissioners develop their services and undertake good commissioning, with clear service specifications and contracts."

Commissioning regional and local sexual health services
Public Health England
November 2013