NHS Confederation have said that they “cannot support” the Department of Health’s (DH) plans to raise the tariff objection threshold.
The proposals include raising the tariff objection threshold to between 66 to 75% of all commissioners and providers, meaning the NHS could introduce a pricing tariff even if 74% of providers and commissioners object.
The current objection threshold, set in 2013, is 51%.
NHS Confederation have said that they “cannot support” the Department of Health’s (DH) plans to raise the tariff objection threshold.
The proposals include raising the tariff objection threshold to between 66 to 75% of all commissioners and providers, meaning the NHS could introduce a pricing tariff even if 74% of providers and commissioners object.
The current objection threshold, set in 2013, is 51%.
The NHS Confederation's response questions whether the NHS “would be comfortable with introducing tariff proposals on which 74% of providers and 74% of clinical commissioning groups object.”
For this fundamental reason, we cannot support raising the threshold to 75 per cent,” it read.
The DH proposals also call for removing the share of supply threshold, which the Confederation supports.
However, the members body branded the DH consultation report, Fair and Transparent Pricing for NHS Service, a “disappointing start” and also called for a clearer interpretation of the term ‘relevant providers’ “to ensure organisations with important perspectives on the tariff are not excluded.”
