Local needs and priorities will still shape how GPs commission services, despite national outcomes being introduced, according to the DH's director of quality framework and QIPP.
Speaking at a London conference earlier this week, Giles Wilmore, said the joint strategic needs assessment, overseen by the local authority, would remain the local guiding principle for what GP commissioners prioritised.
He said: ‘The commissioning outcomes framework is about national accountability but it doesn't mean every one of those organisations must make X amount of progress and meet every measure of this framework. It means the commissioning board needs to come to an agreement nationally on how it is going to incentivise and encourage sufficient progress in the areas that are in the framework that the secretary of state will specify.
He added: ‘That's at a national level so what that means is that at a local level what's commissioned will be determined by the need of the local population and the local priorities.
‘The commissioning board will then need to take a view on how that aggregates up.
‘So if there's an area of the framework that very few locally are commissioning measures to support, so it's a national problem then I would expect then commissioning board to intervene and say to consortia ‘look many of you are neglecting this important issue'.
‘The framework gives an overview of the areas that are important and it's kind of a menu that GP commissioners will pick from in negotiation with the commissioning board and they will set out their local accountability agreements.'
Speaking at the same 'Implementing the NHS Outcomes Fraemwork' conference, organised by Capita conferences, Dr Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of NICE, said the CQC registration requirements and NICE quality standards did not currently align and there was no statutory provision in the bill to require providers to meet them.
She said: ‘The NICE quality standards are to drive improvement from good to excellent, whereas the CQC registration requirements are much more about are you doing a good enough job to open your doors pretty much.'
