Experts call for larger PCTs and clinician led bodies to boost commissioning

Commissioning in the NHS will start to work effectively only if radical changes are made that put clinicians far more in control of the process, say two new reports from health policy experts.

Clinician led “integrated care organisations” and more powerful primary care trusts are needed to boost commissioning in the NHS, claim the two reports published on 30 March by the health policy think tanks the Nuffield Trust and the King’s Fund.

Growing demand for care and a prolonged period of constrained budgets for the NHS mean that the way care is commissioned, organised, and delivered needs to change drastically, say the reports.

The first report, Where Next for Commissioning …