The state of play in the English NHS laid bare. Is this anyway to run a health service. Playing pass the parcel with who should be responsible for providing the service. The Secretary of State for Health is responsible for deciding which services NHS England will directly commission as specialised services, and makes regulations accordingly. In deciding whether it would be appropriate for a service to be commissioned by NHS England rather than clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), the Secretary of State must have regard to four statutory factors appearing in section 3B(3) of the National Health Service Act 2006, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, namely: · the number of individuals who require the provision of the service or facility; · the cost of providing the service or facility; · the number of persons able to provide the service or facility; and · the financial implications for CCGs if they were required to arrange for the provision of the service or facility. The Secretary of State must also obtain appropriate advice for that purpose and consult NHS England before making regulations using these powers. The Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG) was established by the Department in 2013 to provide the Secretary of State with this advice. PSSAG met on 30 September to consider a number of proposed changes to the specialised services portfolio, including the transfer of commissioning responsibility for renal dialysis services and morbid obesity surgery services from NHS England to CCGs. PSSAG considered these two services against the four statutory factors set out above and concluded that they no longer meet the requirements for national commissioning by NHS England. PSSAG therefore recommended that commissioning responsibility for renal dialysis services and morbid obesity surgery services should transfer to CCGs.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 09:44:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015