Commissioning Board outlines transparency guidelines

GPs will not be allowed to vote on commissioning locally enhanced services (LES) from their own practices under new guidelines outlined by the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB).

An official code of conduct has been published by the Board to avoid conflicts of interest in the health service from 2013 and urges CCGs to use AQP or full tendering for LES to avoid transparency issues.

The NHS CB said the code of conduct will “enable CCGs and member practices to demonstrate that they are acting fairly and transparently”.

The code outlines how LES will form part of CCGs’ baseline allocations from next April – with the exception of public health services.

CCGs will have to commission services using the NHS standard as opposed to the GP contract, the code said, and must provide evidence that proposed services go “beyond the scope” of services provided at practices and that they have fully adhered to new procurement rules.

The code opens up services to private competition. CCGs must decide, it advises – subject to DH proposals – where to “commission community-based services through competitive tender or an AQP approach and where through single tender.”

The document also says that members of Health and Wellbeing Boards or other CCGs could be asked to sit in on primary care commissioning decisions to provide “additional scrutiny”.