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MPs hear that PCTs may benefit from losing commissioning role

BMJ 2010; 340 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c289 (Published 18 January 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c289
  1. Adrian O’Dowd
  1. 1London

    Primary care trusts might do better to lose their commissioning role and focus on provision and organisation in order to improve local services, MPs have been told.

    A leading expert on health economics has suggested that the commissioning aspect of primary care trusts’ work has meant that their attention has too often been diverted from ensuring that primary care services are actually improving patients’ health.

    MPs on the parliamentary health select committee, as part of their inquiry into commissioning last week, heard that it was time for the government to consider the “radical option” of taking commissioning away from primary care trusts and handing that responsibility to a central body.

    Andrew Street, professor of health economics at the University of …

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