Commissioning Framework for Health and Well-being: GPC summary of Developments Relevant to GPs

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The Department of Health (DH) published ‘Commissioning framework for health and well-being’ in early March 2007, which builds upon the White Paper ‘Our health, our care, our say’ published in January 2006. 

The framework seeks to achieve the following:

• Improve links between health care and local people and communities and ensure people are put at the centre of commissioning;
• Promote joint strategic needs assessment of populations and individuals by health and local authority partners;
• Increase and improve sharing of information between health care and local authorities;
• Develop the provider market for health and social care in order to increase choice and assure high-quality providers for all services;
• Encourage commissioners to work with partners who can help people find employment, recognising the interdependence between work, health and well-being;
• Develop incentives within commissioning systems that encourage partnerships between different parts of the health service and between health and social care;
• Establish an accountability framework for joint commissioning; and
• Improve commissioning skills in general through capability and leadership.

It is proposed that this framework will be implemented from 2008/09 and a series of questions for consultation are included in the document, for which the deadline for a response is 28 May 2007.

In general, the document suggests positive developments for GPs, who remain at the centre of community services. However the document does not outline adequate incentives or resources to enable change to take place and does not discuss the real obstacles to the implementation of the proposals. We therefore have concerns about the feasibility of the framework in the short-term.

This paper highlights proposals relevant to GPs generally, and not specifically in relation to their role as commissioners.

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