World class commissioning learning resource

Welcome to our world class commissioning in social care landing page.

From this year, PCTs will be assessed annually against 11 competences – including working with partners, engaging patients and prioritising investment – and they will receive support to meet them.

PCT programme

The PCT programme’s emphasis on personalisation, service planning and investment and partnership working has significant implications for councils.

As our feature on dementia care (below) makes clear, PCTs and councils must collaborate in assessing the needs of their current and future populations, identifying gaps and collectively reinvesting public money where it will secure the best care and the best value.

Councils are not subject – currently – to a world class commissioning programme. But, as our feature on personalisation explores (see below), the Putting People First agenda poses acute commissioning challenges for councils, which will require a class response. Empowering users while enabling providers to innovate and respond to their needs will be the grounds on which authorities are judged.

This is the first in a series brought to you by a groundbreaking partnership between Community Care, the Department of Health and the Social Care Institute for Excellence. The partnership is designed to help frontline professionals turn policy into practice at a time of massive change in adult social care, notably through the DH’s Putting People First agenda to personalise care around the needs of the user.

Compatibility

But how compatible are these two agendas: personalisation for councils and world class commissioning for PCTs? This is one of the topics covered in our round table discussion (see below), held at last month’s National Children and Adult Services Conference, for which we gathered together a collection of top civil servants, council and NHS chiefs, academics, and provider and service user leaders.

These discussions will continue at a conference on world class commissioning in social care on 27 November, as part of the DH, Scie and Community Care partnership. We hope to see you there.

Contents of this learning resource

Dementia: joint PCT and council commissioning is key

Joint commissioning by PCTs and councils is key to meeting the demands of increasing dementia but its benefits in terms of savings and outcomes are yet to be fully felt, writes Sally Gillen

Joint planning vital for local authorities and PCTs

Supporting service users to exercise control over their care is at the heart of the role of councils under personalisation. But they must also engage providers in a genuine partnership to make user choice a reality, writes Anabel Unity Sale

Experts debate world class commissioning

Policymakers and health and social care leaders gathered in Liverpool last month to debate the challenges personalisation and the pursuit of world class commissioning are posing for councils and PCTs. This is an edited account of their discussions

Watch leading experts debate the latest ideas in social care commissioning at our round table discussion

Click here to download full text version