Commissioning for healthy lives

Thursday 15 October 2009

The child health strategy Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures makes it clear that stronger commissioning is key to achieving improved health outcomes for children and young people. Securing Better Health Through World Class Commissioning sets out a model for this work, aligning the joint planning and commissioning cycle with the health commissioning cycle for children's services.

It also establishes who is involved in the commissioning process, making it clear that input from local third sector partners is crucial.

Thirty-three per cent of organisations that responded to NCB's survey (see Child Health and Well-being news story) were being commissioned to deliver services by their local primary care trust (PCT), although 16 per cent were receiving referrals of children and young people without receiving any funding. However, just 19 per cent of third sector organisations were involved in working with their PCT to set priorities locally.

There is clearly work to be done in encouraging and ensuring the sustained involvement of the third sector across all stages of effective commissioning. A range of initiatives including the Commissioning Support Programme play an active role here. Commissioning is also a key priority for the Department of Health's Strategic Partner Programme. NCB will ensure that the experiences of third sector organisations working with children and young people's health and well-being are fed in to this programme of work.

Commissioning training

NCB is developing a one-day training course to introduce the health commissioning environment to organisations new to commissioning. Participants will gain a greater awareness of what health commissioners are looking for. The course will be run in spring. To pre-register an interest, please contact training@ncb.org.uk.