Nicholson points way to future
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- Published: Saturday, 17 December 2011 20:02
- Written by News Editor
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| NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has published details of the reformed commissioning system and the emerging national board. The purpose of the new NHS Commissioning Board to use ‘the commissioning budget of around £80bn a year to secure the best possible health outcomes for patients and communities.’ The Board will also directly commission NHS dentistry. |
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The NHS Commissioning Board will directly commission around £20bn of services including specialised services and primary care services (including NHS dentistry) It will also hold around 35,000 contracts for primary care providers, including dentists.
The Board will also work in partnership with a large number of other organisations, including the healthcare professions, ‘whose expertise and input will need to be built into the workings of the Board’. The NHS says: ‘the views of nurses and doctors from primary and secondary care, and of allied health professionals, healthcare scientists, dentists, pharmacists and optical specialists should all be represented.
On numbers the document says: ‘There have been around 8000 staff performing functions which will be the responsibility of the Board and this is likely to reduce to around 3500. Of these approximately two thirds will be deployed locally within the “field force” managing relationships with clinical commissioning groups and performing direct commissioning and other associated functions.
The bulk of the Board’s direct commissioning functions which will be organised in part at a sub-national level. In particular, significant aspects of the commissioning of primary care services will need to be carried out locally to reflect the large number of local providers of primary medical care, dentistry, pharmacy and optical services.
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