Financial incentives should be designed to foster integration, the Royal College of Physicians has urged the Treasury as part of the 2015 spending review process.
Currently the tariff-based system incentivises hospital-based activity and disincentivisis care closer to home which “impedes transformation”, the report Putting the pieces together: removing the barriers to excellent patient care states.
Financial incentives should be designed to foster integration, the Royal College of Physicians has urged the Treasury as part of the 2015 spending review process.
Currently the tariff-based system incentivises hospital-based activity and disincentivisis care closer to home which “impedes transformation”, the report Putting the pieces together: removing the barriers to excellent patient care states.
Instead, the incentives should encourage integration and long-term planning, and the tariff should be implemented on a biannual basis to stabilise the system, the college stated.
In response, Dr Amanda Doyle, co-chair of NHSCC and chief clinical officer of NHS Blackpool CCG said the report “sets out a number of core principles and ambitions that echo what our members have already been calling for”.
Doyle added that CCGs continue to address many of the issues around fragmented commissioning, are embracing the opportunity to work in local partnerships and that giving commissioners more responsibility to co-commission primary care services is “a step in the right direction”.
Similarly, Dr Steve Kell, co-chair of NHSCC and chair of NHS Bassetlaw CCG commented: “We welcome the recommendation for all parts of the system to work much more closely together and encourage our members to continue to work with their clinical colleagues from right across their health economy.”
