The Commissioning Circle

Welcome to the Commissioning Circle Blog

Author: Dr. Ian McPherson, Director

9June

I recently attended The World Class Mental Health Commissioning Conference where I spoke on the subject of the commissioning process. There are many issues facing commissioners in the field of mental health, and NIMHE has been working closely with commissioners and other major stakeholders, including the NHS Confederation, ADASS, SHAs, Department of Health, and leading agencies in the independent sector, such as Humana. We working to identify the main challenges and the support that may be required to address these.

Here, I share with you the key themes that have emerged from our discussions.

• Information, data and knowledge management for effective commissioning (including better integration of public health and developing the mental health component of Joint Strategic Needs Assessments).
• Developing a range of outcomes for better commissioning.
• Workforce development and retaining knowledgeable, skilled and innovative mental health commissioners.
• Effective partnerships & “whole system” commissioning frameworks. Joint commissioning best practice; reducing fragmentation between commissioners; age inclusive commissioning and the wider role of local authorities.
• Public, service user and carer engagement. Placing service users at the centre of commissioning – a joint NHS and Social Care responsibility.
• Strengthening clinical and professional engagement – and an increased use of the evidence base in commissioning.
• Commissioning for quality – procurement; contracts & incentives (in the absence of a national tariff); and performance management.
• Joining up NHS and Social Care system reforms within the MH commissioning context – Practice-Based Commissioning, Individual Budgets and Personalisation. The impact of current models of joint commissioning on social care transformation with potential for extension of individual budgets across NHS and Social Care.
• Commissioning for wellbeing and inclusion – including physical health, health promotion, action on stigma and employment. Also considering mechanisms for influencing commissioning in other sectors to prioritise mental health needs.

NIMHE have appointed Kieron Murphy to lead a programme on “Effective Mental Health Commissioning and System Reform” which will look at how we can respond to these challenges in partnership with other stakeholders. Kieron has extensive background in this as a former PCT Chief Executive and having held senior appointments in provider organisations, Social Care, and the Department of Health. If you would be interested in more information about NIMHE’s work on commissioning please visit our website at www.nimhe.csip.org.uk.

I look forward to your comments.

- by Dr. Ian McPherson, Director
National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE)