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TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE, SAYS NHS CONFEDERATION
PCTs pass the baton
Targeted alliances, time-limited partnerships and collaborative working can produce better outcomes than formal organisational mergers, says the NHS Confederation. With system pressures heralding a wave
of organisations joining forces, new report ‘Healthcare groups: an alternative to merger- mania?’ points to a historically ‘poor track record’ of health service mergers delivering their stated objectives. It asks if the NHS would gain from more
providers establishing ‘healthcare groups’ – formally agreeing to work jointly on an area of shared interest – rather than risking the pitfalls that can accompany formal mergers, which can include reduced staff morale and falls in productivity.
Produced by the NHS Confederation’s
Hospitals Forum in collaboration with health consultancy Finnamore, and based on evidence from past and current partnerships in the health service, the briefing offers a spectrum of joint working possibilities, ranging from ‘mutual collaboration’, in which two or more providers pool resources for a particular function or service, to a ‘federated model’, where partners delegate aspects of their management to a group organisation they own. The paper also sets out the ‘trade off’ required for various models of joint working. NHS Confederation chief executive Mike
Farrar said the point of the paper is “to remind people that joint working involves a buffet of options, not a fixed menu”.
NHS England plans for patient feedback
NHS England has published a business plan aimed at putting patients at the heart of improving care. ‘Putting Patients First’ is a three-year plan
that measures how health and care services are performing, with an emphasis on making sure feedback from patients, their families and NHS staff is heard and acted on. NHS England will introduce an 11-point scorecard for measuring feedback, in reaction to recommendations by the Francis report. The publication of the plan comes alongside the launch of the NHS Friends
and Family Test. Since April patients will be now asked whether they would recommend hospital wards and A&E departments to their friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment.
Professor Malcolm Grant, chair of
NHS England, said: “Recent events have demonstrated the need for constant vigilance to ensure consistently high standards of care across the NHS and to pick up possible failures at an early stage. The key test is whether patients would recommend their local NHS care and if NHS staff feel positive.”
Lessons learned from more than a decade of NHS commissioning have been condensed into a new NHS Confederation report, which shares the learning from PCT commissioning with those taking on responsibilities in the new NHS. The report advises commissioners to priortise community and clinical engagement; invest in establishing constructive relationships with partners; and prepare for rigorous conversations with providers and the public about the quality and shape of local services. The report draws on a series of interviews with leading figures from in and around PCTs. It recommends ways to build on the past experiences of PCTs and how to avoid the pitfalls they sometimes faced.
Commenting on the insights gleaned from
PCTs, NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said: “It would be wrong to pretend the past decade has been plain sailing, but it would be equally wrong to think NHS commissioning is starting again from scratch. “From when they first took on their
full responsibilities in 2002, many PCTs made significant progress in developing the process of health service commissioning, as well as improving the care of their local communities, and managing all the other challenges they faced. It is vital that we don’t lose this knowledge as we enter the new era of CCG-led local commissioning and national specialised commissioning.” Commenting on the publication, Dr Amanda Doyle, co-chair of NHSCC’s leadership group and chief clinical officer, Blackpool CCG, agreed it is important CCGs learn from their predecessors. “While we are operating in a new system, the foundations of CCGs are clearly rooted in what preceded them. There are important lessons for CCGs [here].”
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