We welcome your comments on the web site - but please be aware that it is by no means finished! We have put up the Board papers, along with the member practice details and Board Member information so that these are available to everyone. We have also made a start to the Links page, where phone numbers and web sites for many of the services and organisations that you will need can be found.

As we develop the site we will also add specific members areas for GP's, Practice Managers and Practice Nurses which will provide a valuable resource for information, exchanges of ideas and storage of information.

Please check back regularly, but most importantly tell us what you would like to see on the site. We want this to be a useful resource for you, so tell us what we can put on it that will make it a site that you will want and need to access each day...!
 

News!

CSS Audit Results

The results of the Clinic Selection Service (CSS) Audit that was recently undertaken can now be found in the December 2009 Public Papers section. Please click here to go to this page to view the results.

Practice-based commissioning (PBC) is a Department of Health initiative that encourages general practitioners (GPs) and others to play a proactive role in shaping, influencing and commissioning hospital and community health services for their patients and local communities.

PBC continues to play a vital role in current health reform.  Increasingly groups of family doctors, nurses and other primary care professionals are coming together to translate patient needs into redesigned services that best deliver what local people want. 

How does PBC work?

Practice based commissioner's work closely with the local Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and their colleagues in hospitals and community services.

PCTs are the statutory budget holders that have overall accountability for healthcare commissioning.
Where practice based commissioners believe they can improve a service and free-up financial resources, they complete a business case and present it to the PCT for approval.   If freed-up resources are made, 70% goes into a PBC commissioning budget held by the PCT for practice based commissioners to re-invest in to other services.  To do this however, they need approval from the PCT.