Commissioning for Patients

Commissioning for Patients

The Government’s proposal is to move the decision making about planning and paying for health care from Primary Care Trusts to your GP.

This will  be done by new GP consortia.

Download full proposals [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 424 KB]

GP Consortia

• Groups of GP practices will join together to plan and pay for care for their patients
• Decisions will be made by the GP consortia but will be governed by the national NHS Commissioning Board
• Every GP practice will HAVE to join a consortiumPractices will be allowed to form consortia in a way that they think is best for their patients and locally
• The consortia will have to be sufficiently big enough to handle complex finances.

What will GPs be expected to do?

• Manage budgets and decide how best to use the money to meet the healthcare needs of patients registered with the practices in the consortium area
• Buy emergency services for all people living in the area
• To determine healthcare needs and therefore what services are required
• Manage contracts with providers such as local hospitals
• Monitor quality of services provided