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22/10/2010
New Support For GPs Will Cut Commission Costs
A new series of resources to support GP Consortia to design and commission services for patients was announced today by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
The commissioning packs will provide GPs with a set of tools and templates to use when designing and buying services for their patients. The first of these support packs published today is for cardiac rehabilitation services and aims to support GP commissioners to design services that are suited to local needs and cost effective.
Cardiac rehabilitation is a crucial element in the care of people who have heart disease and helps them to live longer and enjoy a better quality of life.
The pack includes:
The Secretary of State for Health also announced that further packs would be developed and launched next year for dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) services. It is expected that the packs will evolve over time as GP commissioners have more control in designing services and clarity on their support needs.
At the National Association for Primary Care Annual Conference, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "We want to devolve power to clinicians and patients - GP commissioning is central to achieving this. But we want to make sure that GPs are supported too, and that they do not have to wade through layers of bureaucracy when designing services. This is the first of a series of packs that aim to reduce the time GP Consortia will spend on procurement and to easily demonstrate how they can design services that will give patients the best outcomes and use money effectively.
"The pack has been designed with GPs and we expect it to evolve as GPs take on greater responsibility for commissioning. In future, the National Commissioning Board will provide this type of support to Consortia."
Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation and practising GP commented: "This year's National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation shows a 4% increase in the number of heart patients in England receiving cardiac rehabilitation from 38% to 42%. That's almost 5,000 more patients receiving this vital service compared to last year. But there is still a long road ahead of us.
"There are an estimated 2.6 million people living with heart disease in the UK and recovery from a heart attack isn't over when a patient leaves hospital. This commissioning pack is a welcome step forward in our goal of ensuring every heart patient who would benefit from cardiac rehabilitation is given the chance to receive it. We urge all commissioners of care in England to use this pack and ensure referral to cardiac rehabilitation is a routine part of treating heart patients, giving them the chance to live longer and better quality lives."
The British Heart Foundation and NHS Improvement have also launched a patient information pack to make patients aware of what they should expect from a good cardiac rehabilitation service.
(BMcN/GK)
The commissioning packs will provide GPs with a set of tools and templates to use when designing and buying services for their patients. The first of these support packs published today is for cardiac rehabilitation services and aims to support GP commissioners to design services that are suited to local needs and cost effective.
Cardiac rehabilitation is a crucial element in the care of people who have heart disease and helps them to live longer and enjoy a better quality of life.
The pack includes:
- A service specification that sets out how to design services to improve patient outcomes
- A costing tool that commissioners can use to determine how much money could be saved by implementing the service
- Procurement advice and templates designed to slash the amount of time spent on administration and reduce the need for GP commissioners to rely on external management support
The Secretary of State for Health also announced that further packs would be developed and launched next year for dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) services. It is expected that the packs will evolve over time as GP commissioners have more control in designing services and clarity on their support needs.
At the National Association for Primary Care Annual Conference, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "We want to devolve power to clinicians and patients - GP commissioning is central to achieving this. But we want to make sure that GPs are supported too, and that they do not have to wade through layers of bureaucracy when designing services. This is the first of a series of packs that aim to reduce the time GP Consortia will spend on procurement and to easily demonstrate how they can design services that will give patients the best outcomes and use money effectively.
"The pack has been designed with GPs and we expect it to evolve as GPs take on greater responsibility for commissioning. In future, the National Commissioning Board will provide this type of support to Consortia."
Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation and practising GP commented: "This year's National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation shows a 4% increase in the number of heart patients in England receiving cardiac rehabilitation from 38% to 42%. That's almost 5,000 more patients receiving this vital service compared to last year. But there is still a long road ahead of us.
"There are an estimated 2.6 million people living with heart disease in the UK and recovery from a heart attack isn't over when a patient leaves hospital. This commissioning pack is a welcome step forward in our goal of ensuring every heart patient who would benefit from cardiac rehabilitation is given the chance to receive it. We urge all commissioners of care in England to use this pack and ensure referral to cardiac rehabilitation is a routine part of treating heart patients, giving them the chance to live longer and better quality lives."
The British Heart Foundation and NHS Improvement have also launched a patient information pack to make patients aware of what they should expect from a good cardiac rehabilitation service.
(BMcN/GK)
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