Government explains GP commissioning

Released 22/07/2010

White Paper fleshed out but questions left unanswered

Following the Government White Paper last week, the Department of Health has issued a consultation document to further explain GPs' roles in commissioning.

The document ‘Equality and excellence: liberating the NHS', published on 12 July, set out proposals for putting local consortia of GP practices in charge of commissioning services to best meet the needs of local people, supported by an independent NHS Commissioning Board.

The consultation document released today by the DH, entitled ‘Liberating the NHS: commissioning for patients', explains how the proposals will be implemented.

The document explains:

• How GP consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board can best involve patients in improving the quality of health services

• How GP consortia can work closely with secondary care, community partners and other health and care professionals to design joined-up services that are responsive to patients and the public

• How the NHS Commissioning Board and GP consortia can best work together to make effective and efficient commissioning decisions

• And how the NHS Commissioning Board can best support consortia and ensure they achieve improvements in outcomes within NHS resources.

Commenting on the launch of the consultation, Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of BMA Council, said the document provided more detail about the government's plans for GP commissioning, but there were still many questions that needed answering.

He felt the proposals contained "both opportunities and threats" and that the BMA would be actively engaging with the consultation process to ensure its members' views are taken on board.

"This is a challenging agenda, but the BMA is committed to try to find workable solutions that will fully engage both primary and secondary care doctors and the public so that by working in partnership they can achieve the best outcomes for patients," Dr Meldrum said.

The BMA will be publishing its own proposals on how GP commissioning could be made to work.

The White Paper is available from the DH website here.

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