GP consortia to be formed by 2011-12

A Department of Health consultation paper published on 22 July 2010 and titled Liberating the NHS: local democratic legitimacy in health says that the government will make the change in a health bill this autumn. "Most commissioning decisions will now be made by consortia of GP practices, free from top down managerial control and supported and held to account for the outcomes they achieve by the NHS Commissioning Board," says the document. "This will push decision making much closer to patients and local communities and ensure that commissioners are accountable to them." A second consultation paper provides more details of how GP commissioning consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board will work. Commissioning for patients says that in 2011-12 a "comprehensive system" of shadow GP consortia will be in place and a year later GP consortia will be formally established, together with responsibility to prepare commissioning plans. The NHS Commissioning Board will be established as an independent statutory body. By 2013-14 GP consortia will be fully operational with "real budgets" and holding contracts with suppliers of ICT and other services. The Department of Health has admitted, however, that it will not be appropriate for all commissioning decisions to be made at a local level. Some specialist services, such as paediatrics, will need to be commissioned at a "higher geographical unit" by the NHS Commissioning Board. Victor Almeida, senior analyst at Kable, said: "There is still uncertainty about what will happen to the procurement of IT and telecoms products and services, but Lansley has promised ICT-specific announcements within the next few weeks. "GPs are likely to retain many ICT procurement duties. The documents published this week states that the new consortia 'will be able to employ staff from external organisations including independent sector providers, for instance to analyse population health needs, manage contracts with providers and monitor expenditure outcomes'. "This indicates that GPs will require complex data solutions and services. It makes sense that they retain commissioning powers for other ICT systems too."