Report proposes alternative to practice based commissioning

Practice based commissioning in England is not working and should be replaced by a system of new groups spanning primary and secondary care with bigger budgets and greater powers, suggests a report published on 24 November.

The report, from the Nuffield Trust and the NHS Alliance, says that a growing body of research indicates that practice based commissioning is “at best under-developed and at worst in need of major overhaul.”

It proposes instead the creation of a network of “local clinical partnerships,” consisting of GPs, community staff, and secondary care specialists, which would be responsible for providing and commissioning services and would have full accountability for their …