Clinical commissioners eager to lead
Released 30/11/2011
CCG leaders voice concerns over being excluded from decisions that will determine how they are set up and run and threaten to diminish their ability to lead
Clinical commissioners eager to lead the way
Clinical commissioning group leaders have voiced their concern over being excluded from crucial decision-making about how their organisations will be set up and run, according to Dr Michael Dixon's opening speech today at the NHS Alliance conference.
"The week before last, I had over 30 emails from concerned CCG leaders. Each told its own story; stories of commissioning support being imposed, of staff being appointed without consultation and of crucial meetings being arranged with less than 12 hours' notice," the chair told delegates.
Furthermore, 60% of respondents to the question ‘Do you believe that your CCG is being coerced or bullied to alter how you are setting it up, in ways that conflict with what you feel would benefit your local population?' voted yes in a Clinical Commission Coalition survey published earlier this week.
Dixon reiterated the need for patients to be put first, especially when he believes considerations about competition, markets and health care delivery are being used to disempower clinical commissioning.
"I know too that many people, especially primary care clinicians, are concerned about too much competition, too much privatisation and too much market. I share these concerns," he commented.
"There must be balances, of course. But these concerns are poor reason to turn your back on clinical commissioning. They are every reason to embrace it. It enables us to make sure that our patients really do come first. Not the ideology of markets, nor of competition nor the private sector."
The Clinical Commissioning Coalition has pledged its support to CCGs, ensuring they have the power to act on behalf of their patients.
"You must be empowered to decide what is best for your patients - not the National Commissioning Board, not Monitor, not the senates, not anyone else! You must do this as disinterested advocates of your patients and local people, able, as only clinicians can, to balance the good of the individual with the good of your whole local population," Dixon concluded.
Nurses 'left behind'
Furthermore, two reports released at the conference saw nurses demand more respect and recognition in the commissioning programme.
According to ‘Involving Nurses in Commissioning: How to Get it Right' and ‘Nurses and the Wider Public Health Agenda' (two new reports published today by the NHS Alliance's Nurses in Commissioning Network), nurses must be fully empowered and engaged in both clinical commissioning and healthcare delivery.
"Nurses have a particular contribution not least to emphasis on clinical outcomes," the first report states.
"Overall, it is a fundamental part of their job to bring a patient- and family/carer-focused perspective and voice to the information that is needed to inform commissioning decisions.
"They often play a pivotal role in coordinating care in a manner that is centred on the patient, keeps the patient safe, achieves the best outcomes and gives the best experience. This is a crucial skill set for commissioners."
Both reports contain recommendations to help CCGs and the wider system to support nurses' involvement in commissioning as well as public health.
Ursula Gallagher, lead for the Nurses in Commissioning Network, said nurses had a "massive contribution" to make.
"They are already at the forefront of delivering health improvement whether as specialist public health practitioners or as part of everyday care," she said.
"It will not be possible for the NHS to realise its full potential in terms of health care improvement for patients without creating mechanisms that allow nurses to be fully involved."
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