Commissioner support

We understand that reading pages of regulations and the contract isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. We also appreciate that in today’s busy environment you may not have time to keep up with changes to the regulations and directions. Our advisers can help you with this. Whether it’s a specific query that you have or a particular issue that you are wrestling with our helpdesk is available to those with one of our annual contracts . Here are some of the recently asked questions that our team has dealt with.

Our advisers also provide training on the legislation and the accompanying primary care contracts either via one of the local workshops in your annual contracts, national events that are open to everyone (charges do apply for those without an annual contract), or via a consultancy contract. These workshops are interactive and we use case studies or your scenarios to help you apply the theory to issues that you will face in your day to day work.

Ensuring that your decision and actions are in line with the legislative and contractual framework will reduce the risk of a successful challenge.

Pharmaceutical needs assessments (PNAs) have been around in England for some time now and and have been implemented in Wales. Having worked with both the English Department of Health and Social Care and Welsh Government with the policy and regulations for PNAs we have gone on to support a number of English health and wellbeing boards and Welsh health boards in the development of their PNAs. This has ranged from providing virtual support and acting as a critical friend, through to project managing the whole process and drafting the document.

Whilst there is not a regulatory requirement to undertake needs assessments for the commissioning of the other primary care services we can support you in assessing the need for new dental or medical contracts, linking with the findings of the relevant joint strategic needs assessment.

For each of the four primary contracting routes the ability by which a contractor can start to provide NHS services varies.

Whether you are looking for a workshop to understand the rules around procurement for yourself or your providers, or would like hands-on support on a medical or dental procurement then we have a range of associates with the appropriate expertise. We can also provide workshops on bid-writing if you are looking to develop your providers.

Pharmacy market entry requires a detailed understanding of the regulations and process. We can support you in this by running workshops looking at how applications are processed, the decisions that will need to be made as they are processed and how to make the final decision.

In relation to the provision of general ophthalmic services (GOS) we can support you to understand who can hold a GOS contract, how applications are requested and received, which forms to issue and sections to be completed depending on the contractor type, an understanding of how applications are approved, what to do when things go wrong and who needs to be involved at what stage.

Once contracts are in place they need to be monitored. Whether it’s dental mid and end year reviews, requests for contract variations, mergers, assigning patients to GP lists or relocations we can provide a range of workshops to assist you in understanding your contracts and what they allow, or require, you and your providers to do. We can also help you, via our consultancy service, ensure that your contracts are up-to-date and robust.

Making reasoned and consistent decisions, avoiding any conflicts of interest, is paramount. We use scenarios in our workshops to help you apply the regulations to those situations that you face in your day to day work whether that’s a relatively straight forward decision or one which could have implications for the rest of the country.

Payments to contractors may be set out in directions, the Drug Tariff, or the contract itself. Can you be confident that you are always making payments as you should? Do you understand the various payment mechanisms? Do your contracts support all the payments that you are making? We can help you with our range of workshops whether they are provided under an annual contract or via our consultancy service.

PCC has a long history of helping organisations navigate the complexities of primary care estates, including the application of the National Health Service (General Medical Services Premises Costs) Directions. As health and care services increasingly evolve towards neighbourhood-based models of care, the role of the estate has become even more critical.

Neighbourhood Health requires services to be delivered collaboratively across organisational boundaries, bringing together primary care, community services, mental health, social care, voluntary sector partners and others to meet the needs of local populations. A common challenge is ensuring that the right estate is available to support integrated, multidisciplinary working and provide accessible, high-quality care closer to home.

Commissioners, provider collaboratives, GP organisations, neighbourhood teams and integrated care partnerships must navigate the transition from traditional premises ownership and occupation models towards more flexible, sustainable and strategic approaches to estate planning. This is a complex area, with financial, legal, operational and workforce considerations that need to be addressed at both neighbourhood and system level.

PCC brings significant expertise in primary care estates and can provide practical advice to support both strategic estate development and day-to-day operational decision-making. Our specialists can help organisations understand current estate arrangements, explore future delivery models, identify opportunities for co-location and integration, and develop solutions that support the ambitions of neighbourhood health.

We can provide one-to-one advice, facilitate local discussions or deliver bespoke workshops tailored to your local circumstances.

For more information, please contact enquiries@pcc-cic.org.uk.

We are increasingly running surgery sessions for our clients. You bring the queries and we work through them with you. We can either run these sessions in your offices or virtually, either for your team or with our other clients who hold an annual contract. As we work nationally we can share what others are doing and how they are tackling a particular issue. We have also provided these sessions on a national basis for our subscribers so that they can benefit from networking opportunities.