Implementing primary care co-commissioning in the English NHS: what, why and how?

Arrival: 12pm Seminar: 12.15pm - 1.15pm.

Tea, coffee and sandwiches provided (please register if you want these, and to guarantee a seat!)

Speakers

Imelda McDermott, Research Fellow in the Health Policy, Politics and Organisations Group, Institute of Population Health

Abstract

In the Health and Social Care Act 2012, responsibility for commissioning primary care services was given to NHS England. Part of the rationale for having primary care commissioning outside CCGs was to move towards a more standardised model of primary care commissioning. However in 2014, it was proposed that CCGs will take over varying levels of responsibility for commissioning primary care services from April 2015. In this talk Imelda will present some early findings from her current project on primary care co-commissioning, specifically looking at the scope of co-commissioning activity and the process of change. The overarching aim of the project is to understand the ways in which CCGs are responding to their new responsibilities and what are the enabling and constraining factors which will be of value both to CCGs and NHSE as they navigate this process. She will explore the following questions: why is the policy being introduced, what are the CCGs' objectives and factors affecting their involvement, what are the challenges in putting in place new governance arrangements, how do CCGs manage conflicts of interest, how similar/different is policy aspiration from what is happening on the ground, and what are the lessons learnt so far?

About Imelda McDermott

Imelda has been researching the development of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) since its inception. Her current research focus is on healthcare policy in commissioning and her area of interest is the organisation of health services. She has an expertise in analysing the use of language in documents and talk. She has developed an interest in realist evaluation.