Health department efficiency shake-up

The Department of Health’s efficiency programme for adult social care has been moved out of the DH’s commercial division, reflecting criticisms it has been too “private-sector driven”.

The care services efficiency delivery (CSED) team has been transferred from the commercial directorate, which has responsibility for value for money within the DH, to the care services improvement partnership (CSIP).

The latter, formed in April 2005 from the merger of several DH programmes, is developing an improvement strategy for adult social care, and the department said the move would improve co-ordination between the two strands of work.

The programme’s aim is to meet the DH’s savings target of £684m from adult social care by 2008.