This site is intended for health professionals only

LIVE: Commissioning Live 2013

LIVE: Commissioning Live 2013
22 March 2013



Our reporter Lalah-Simone Springer is at Commissioning LIVE, the very first commissioning event sponsored by The Commissioning Review. At the Royal Armouries in Leeds, she'll be bringing you up-to-date news from the speakers who include Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb and Professor Malcolm Grant, chair of the NHS Commissioning Board (pictured). 

Follow @lalah_springer for tweets from the event.

Our reporter Lalah-Simone Springer is at Commissioning LIVE, the very first commissioning event sponsored by The Commissioning Review. At the Royal Armouries in Leeds, she'll be bringing you up-to-date news from the speakers who include Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb and Professor Malcolm Grant, chair of the NHS Commissioning Board (pictured). 

Follow @lalah_springer for tweets from the event.

——————————————————————————-

12.19

According to GP and director of integrated care commissioning, Dr Shahid Ali, there are some barriers to integrating information. 

"Some of them are to do with cultural shift," he says, "But people need to think differently and we need to change the system. CCGs will be able to do that. When clinicians get their teeth into commissioning, they'll also be able to do that." 

But he added that the changes proposed by clinical commissioners have to be "reasonable". 

"Clinicians taleing to clinicians doesn't really change anything. We also have to be aware that the financial impact on hospitals is going to be massively significant. The whole NHS is about to go through transformational change which needs to be handled well is we're going to make that change effectively."

12.09

Dr Shahid Ali, GP and director of integrated care commissioning for Dynamic Health Systems is giving a talk on integrating information to support commissioning. 

Clinical commissioning groups need to be sure about what they want to change, he says, but with £17 million being spent on managing long term conditions, there are certain places it would make more sense to start. 

Dr Ali outlines the difference between what he calls macro- and micro-commissioning. 

"The current, macro-commissioning style is cumbersome and CCGs haven't got years to prove themselves, they've got 24 months maximum to show tha they can make a difference. Micro-commissioning is essentially making small scale changes, testing them out and if it doesn't work – drop it!" 

He says that this alternative model will allow commissioners to more effectively achive their goals. 

 

11.34

In one of the five concurrent streams, Maddy Ruff, managing director of North Yorkshire and Humber CSU gives a presentation with head of quality at the CSU, Lynn Poucher. 

Talking about the importance of supporting clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to drive the quality agenda, Lynn Poucher told the packed room about the importance of soft intelligence. 

Talking about the Francis report, she said that a lot of the stories that leaked were essentially "hearsay" at first.

"One of the key criticisms was that people knew what was going on, but they were a mentality of hiding things. We need to have more transparency."

Poucher said CCGs need to have systems whee soft intelligence is captured, themed and used, emphasising the impact of GP feedback. 

She said: "You need to be able to demonstrate that you're meeting those fundamental standards."

On Twitter

nyhcsu ‏@nyhcsu

Standing room only at our Managing Director Maddy Ruff's presentation #commissioninglive 

The MDU ‏@the_mdu

Dr Mike Devlin has started the workshop on 'Consent: challenges in the era of CCGs and commissioned care'. #MDUevent #CommissioningLive

 
10.43

Answering a rather cheeky question on whether he gets on with Jeremy Hunt, Liberal Democrat care and support minister Norman Lamb revealed he's a “fan of the coalition.” He said: “I'm a fan because it encourages people to think in a different way. Jeremy hasn't stopped me from doing anything, he's actually allowed me to follow my passion for integrated care.

“He's willing to try new things to find out what works.”

On Twitter

Peter Swinyard ‏@phoenixdoc

#commissioninglive Norman Lamb "I'm quite a fan of coalitions". Is this because it's the only way a LibDem gets into government?

Victoria Vaughan ‏@V_Vaughan 

Good working relationship. He has not stopped him from doing things on integrated care and mental health discrimination #commissioninglive

 

10.35

A plea for commissioners from care and support minister Norman Lamb: “Please be innovative, please be imaginative in the way you develop this.”

He said he wants real leaders to push through the boundaries of what's possible – there's an echo here of the NHS Innovation Expo just last week. 

“The services themselves often operate exclusively. We need to embrace innovative innovation between services and people.

“We've got to shift from paternalist to personal.

"We've got to shift from what I'd describe as an exclusive way of providing services to  an inclusive way.”

 

10.25

"Integrated care is a key answer to the challenge. 

Integration can help us to improve and save money at the same time," says Norman Lamb. 

However, he adds that money isn't a problem in itself, but that there's a problem in the NHS with making good use of it. 

“We need to get the incentives right,” the care and support minister said.

There are three other things the NHS needs to hit so that healthcare in the UK can be integrated:

  • Leadership – "It takes good leaders to integrate care. Leaders need to cut across organisational oundaries – when they start doing that good care will follow as sure as night follows day." – Lamb
  • Capability – "Good will is not enough, people need the tools and skills to integrate in the first place." – Lamb
  • Evidence – "To share best practice you need to know what best practice is – local communities can spread innovation far more effectively than I can" – Lamb

On Twitter

Guru Yajaman ‏@guruyajaman

makes sense to think patient as individual integrating health care social care & more importantly personal responsibility #commissioninglive

 

10.20

At Commissioning Live, care and support minister Norman Lamb delivers the first keynote address of the day to a room packed to the rafters. 

He admits that at the moment, the healthcare system is “terribly fragmented.”
“We have almost institutionalised fragmentation, separating healthcare from mental health care. It's bizarre from the point of view of the patient, we've primary care from secondary care.” 
Norman Lamb said this fragmentation means that people start to fall through the gaps. 
“We have to take a long hard look to see if we could make the system more rational.” 
On Twitter
Lamb talking about 'massive challenges' of integrated care

 

Norman Lamb saying cost pressures enormous and must be managed while improving care for patients. Intimidatin prospect?

Easy to lose touch. Increase in demand must be managed it would be a problem for any government. Health budget protected

Want news like this straight to your inbox?

Related articles