New website & NHS domain

The knowledge4commissioning website has been upgraded and re-housed. Reflecting the fact that we are a network of NHS services, our domain name is now www.knowledge4commissioning.nhs.uk .  Please change your bookmarks to point to the new site.  We are adding new case studies and more information on how knowledge services can enhance commissioning.

High quality healthcare commissioning: Obstacles and opportunities for progress on race equality

High quality healthcare commissioning: Obstacles and opportunities for progress on race equality is a
paper from Better Health that describes typical elements of commissioning work and points out a range of actions that clinical commissioners, commissioning managers and other stakeholders can and should take to improve healthcare commissioning for multi-ethnic populations.

BS 11000 for health commissioning: Lessons from history for managing the commissioning relationship

An article in Clinical Governance: An International Journal suggesting that using BS 11000 will be beneficial for commissioning organisations in that it reduces the risk of assuming business relationships are based on a simple contractual relationship. It uses case studies to illustrate that a richer more collaborative business relationship is required for effective provision of services. The authors suggest that BS 11000 can help organisations put in place the foundations of such relationships.

Ask your local health librarian to get hold of:

Quayle, A., Ashworth, D. & Gillies, A., 2013. BS 11000 for health commissioning: Lessons from history for managing the commissioning relationship. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 18(1), pp.18–29. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14777271311297920 [Accessed June 3, 2013].

Patient-centred leadership: Rediscovering our purpose

Patient-centred leadership: Rediscovering our purpose from the King’s Fund summarises the main findings of the Francis Inquiry into the failings of care at Mid Staffordshire in relation to NHS leadership and culture.   It sets out what needs to be done to avoid similar failures in future, focusing on the role of three key ‘lines of defence’ against poor-quality care: frontline clinical teams, the boards leading NHS organisations, and national organisations responsible for overseeing the commissioning, regulation and provision of care.

Evaluation of the first year of the Inner North West London Integrated Care Pilot

The Nuffied Trust first year  Evaluation of the first year of the Inner North West London Integrated Care Pilot finds that there is substantial progress in terms of developing integrated care in terms of developing new forms of care for older people and those with diabetes.  There remains a need to:

  • Review governance to develop a locality-based model in response to the development of Clinical Commissioning Group.
  • There is a need for improved quality of care planning ensuring that patients are involved and engaged.
  • Performance of multidisciplinary groups formed as part of the pilot have been successful enhancing communication and collaboration among professionals.
  • There is widespread frustration felt with progress in developing a user-friendly tool for recording care planning that also has all the functionality that partners would wish to see.  Shared data and IT is an area requiring work.
  • Increased efforts to engage and involve patients in the pilot, representatives from the Patients and Users Committee have been appointed full members of the Integrated Management Board and its committees, and have contributed to the development of the Inner North West London Integrated Care Pilot’s policies and processes.

Community Services: The missing piece of the jigsaw?

Community Services: The missing piece of the jigsaw? from Cheshire and Merseyside Commissioning Support Unit asks key questions about whether the community services environment and its attendant set of disparate providers, is really geared up to take on the unprecedented challenges the NHS and social services face and to support the fundamental shift in focus from secondary care to the community and primary care environments?  It outlines:

  • The ‘TCS’ legacy
  • Secrets of success
  • Social care integration
  • The Transformational Journey

Cost-effective Commissioning For Continence Care

Cost-effective Commissioning For Continence Care is a guide written by continence professionals for the All Party Parliamentary Group For Continence Care.  It outlines the essential elements needed during each phase of the commissioning cycle.

Continence care pathways are only effectively delivered through an integrated continence service that is clinically-driven, patient-sensitive and treatment-focused.  They offer cost savings by reducing:

  • unnecessary catheterisations and associated urinary tract infections (UTI)
  • pressure ulcers linked to poor continence care
  • acute hospitalisations for UTI, urinary retention, renal failure and faecal impaction
  • care home admissions precipitated by incontinence
  • the use of incontinence products through low-cost interventions such as bladder retraining, pelvic floor muscle
  • training and the appropriate use of medications for incontinence

A narrative for person-centred coordinated care

A narrative for person-centred coordinated care  by National Voices and partners shows what coordinated care would look like from the perspective of patients, service users, families and carers. It is hoped all local areas will adopt it, especially through their Clinical Commissioning Groups and Health and Wellbeing Boards, taking up the challenge of seeing & redesigning services through their users’ eyes.