BMJ  2007;335:1168 (8 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39414.429838.BE

Editorials

Implementing practice based commissioning

Is happening slowly but not necessarily surely

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In its recent report, the Audit Commission described the current state of implementation of practice based commissioning.¹ The commission defined such commissioning as a way of managing financial risk as well as a means of improving services and use of resources. Under practice based commissioning, primary care trusts devolve indicative budgets to practices (practices do not receive the actual money, but operate within an agreed budget held and administered by the primary care trust) to give them financial incentives to manage referrals, and to commission and redesign services to make them more convenient, appropriate, and cost effective.

Practice based commissioning has been a central part of the government’s current reforms of the National Health Service (NHS) since April 2005, when interested practices were first entitled to an indicative budget. Any assessment of progress must therefore be of interest in assessing the fate of government health policy overall.

The Audit Commission . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ King’s Fund, London W1G 0AN, ² Health Services Research Unit, Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT

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