NICE Launch First Guide To Support Effective Commissioning Of Services

NICE have published the first in a series of 5 commissioning guides to be published this autumn as part of a new set of products to help the NHS in England effectively commission evidence-based care for patients. Each of these web-based guides offers detailed practical support for commissioners on a specific clinical topic.

The commissioning guides offer advice on a range of issues, including local needs assessment and opportunities for clinical service redesign. They signpost to other relevant sources of information, including commissioning guidance, and set benchmarks to help commissioners determine the level of service needed.

Within each guide, an interactive commissioning tool provides data for local comparison against the benchmark and is a resource to estimate and inform the cost of commissioning decisions. Each PCT and practice in England will be able to register to access their own data.

The first commissioning guide is on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy services, and is underpinned by NICE clinical guidelines on dyspepsia and referral for suspected cancer.

Dr Gillian Leng NICE Implementation Systems Director, said: “This commissioning guide offers practical advice on how to commission routine services, in line with NICE recommendations. It’s not another “how to commission” resource but rather it sets benchmarks for commissioning and provides data for local comparison with those benchmarks. An interactive tool helps decision makers calculate the associated costs and savings involved in any service changes.”

Dr Foster Intelligence, an independent organisation that promotes effective decision making in health and social care, has worked with NICE to help develop the commissioning tool and has helped provide access to relevant local data.

Chief Executive of Doctor Foster, Jake Arnold Forster said: ‘We’re very excited about the possibilities created by combining the clinical evidence that NICE generates with activity and financial information delivered by our systems to help clinicians to engage in effective commissioning. We are also looking ahead to other guides that could be developed along similar lines.”

Sean Fenelon, from NHS Primary Care Contracting, who support strategic health authorities and PCTs in the development of primary care, commented: “With the changes to commissioning in the NHS, there has never been a greater need for guides like this. They will support NHS staff at a local level to improve the quality of patient care through effective commissioning. It is particularly welcome to see NICE drawing not only on their own guidance, but on other national policy that is central to the commissioning process, such as Healthcare Commission standards and the National Service Frameworks.

“These guides will support practices and PCTs in converting the strategic direction laid out in the recently issued Commissioning Framework into operational reality.”