After April 2013, who will commission which health services?
The new NHS structure is designed to promote integrated care by making the roles of a number of different commissioners interlock. The GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are the core of the system, responsible for dealing with most areas of patient need in the local community. Around that, however, three other commissioning bodies are engaged with supporting patient health and wellbeing:
- the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB) is responsible for primary care and specialised services
- local authorities are responsible for improving public health
- Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for protecting and promoting health though intervention in health and social care services and public awareness.
A map of services
The Commissioning Board Authority’s Commissioning fact sheet for clinical commissioning groups maps the new health landscape by comparing the responsibilities of the four organisations. For each new commissioner, it lists the main functions and the similarities to other commissioners – thereby making the point that service integration is vital for effective care.
The fact sheet states that CCGs will need to work collaboratively with local authorities and the NHSCB – and that to do so, they may pool budgets or have joint commissioning arrangements. For example, it is suggested that responsibility for sexual health and for addiction-related services will need to be divided between the CCG and the local authority to avoid duplications or gaps in provision.
Clearly, the matrix of healthcare is a dynamic one that can be interpreted by local commissioners in a range of ways. The map is not a final one in any case: some details, including the specialised services covered by the NHSCB, are still to be confirmed by Parliament in the autumn.
Community healthcare
The fact sheet compares the responsibilities of CCGs and the NHSCB for commissioning patient care. It notes that local authorities will provide “public health advice” to CCGs, but will not commission at that level. The role of local authorities in commissioning social care is not covered, but is a further dynamic that CCGs will need to be aware of.
The core elements of CCG commissioning relate to: emergency care; out-of-hours primary medical care (where not covered by the GP contract); elective hospital care; community health (such as physiotherapy and continence services, but not health visiting or family nursing); rehabilitation; maternity and newborn care (except where intensive); paediatric care; mental health and learning disability care; and infertility treatment.
The core elements of NHSCB commissioning relate to: primary care through the GP contract; community pharmacy; primary ophthalmic care; all dental care; health services for people in prisons and other custodial institutions; health services for members of the armed forces; and specialised services.
The fact sheet draws out some detailed differences between the two lists in order to avoid confusion – for example, noting that health services for offenders in the community are covered by CCGs. Sometimes, as where the GP contract varies, certain services may be commissioned by the CCG in some localities and by the NHSCB in others. None the less, overall there is a clear division of responsibilities.
Public health services
With the commissioning of public health services, the picture is significantly more complex. Responsibility is divided between the NHSCB, the local authority and Public Health England. In some cases – notably immunisation programmes – these services can relate to provision of medication. In other cases – notably epidemic preparedness – they can relate significantly to medicines management and other aspects of primary and secondary NHS care.
Public health services to be commissioned by the NHSCB include services for children from pregnancy to age 5. This responsibility will transfer to local authorities in 2015. It covers health visiting, family nurse partnership and responsibility for child health data. The NHSCB will also be responsible for immunisation and national screening programmes – both being areas of increasing NHS spend, as evidenced by recent investment in cervical cancer and prostate cancer screening and in vaccines against HPV and influenza. With hepatitis C vaccines on the market and HIV vaccines a real prospect, this area of medication will become increasingly crucial for the NHS.
Local authorities will be responsible for providing or commissioning a wide range of public health services that relate mostly to preventative measures and raising awareness, including: children’s public health for ages 5 to 19; sexual health; public mental health; obesity management; drugs, alcohol and smoking services; dental public health; and seasonal mortality. Active medical intervention, including medication, features strongly in the sexual health and drug, alcohol and smoking services to be provided; the transfer of sexual health services from NHS to local authority control is a major change in the provision of UK healthcare. Notably, however, HIV treatment will be commissioned by the NHSCB.
PHE is taking over the functions of the Health Protection Agency and will impact significantly on the health protection activities of CCGs, the NHSCB and local authorities. Sometimes all relevant health stakeholders will work together – for example, PHE has a strategic role in influenza and other epidemic preparedness, to which local authorities, CCGs and the NHSCB will contribute. PHE’s role also covers behaviour change campaigns around early diagnosis and other issues; public oversight of infection prevention and control; and general intelligence on health protection and improvement, including the current functions of the Cancer Registries. These initiatives will also impact on GP services.
Joined-up care
CCGs will be the glue in the new healthcare commissioning system: the first port of call when gaps or inequalities in service provision arise. While they cannot commission GP care, their close professional connection to it should ensure that what impacts on CCGs will be taken to heart by GPs. But given that austerity measures will dominate the NHS for the “foreseeable future” (in David Nicholson’s words), it is inevitable that funding and staffing shortages will create holes in the patchwork of the new health system. The pharmaceutical industry will thus need to be alert to partnership opportunities opening up at local and national levels.
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