News

Consultation on Specialised Services clinical commissioning policies and service specifications

NHS England has today (11 March 2016) launched a 30 day public consultation on a number of proposed new products for specialised services, (including service specifications and clinical commissioning policies).

There has already been extensive engagement on these national specifications and policies. They have been developed with the support and input of lead clinicians and tested with stakeholders. This approach has helped ensure that the views of key stakeholders have informed and influenced the development of the specifications and policies to date.

Please note this is one of several public consultations on a proposed new draft products for specialised services. We now wish to test them further with wider stakeholders through public consultation.

4 comments

  1. Shaun Green says:

    Dear NHSE one of my GPs has raised a query as to why specialist commissioning policies do not seem to use QALYs in their assessment of cost effectiveness of commissioning.

    Is this something you can clarify

    regards Shaun

    • NHS England says:

      Dear Shaun,
      Assessments of specialised and highly specialised treatments and services are sometimes undertaken differently to the assessment of non-specialised interventions due to the small numbers of patients involved. It may not be feasible, for example, to undertake randomised controlled trials that would provide information to calculate QALYS. Using other sources of evidence ensures that NHS England is able to consider the effectiveness of interventions for people with rarer conditions.
      Kind regards,
      NHS England

  2. David Peach says:

    As you say your having a 30 day “PUBLIC CONSULTATION”, if that is so how many of the “PUBLIC” are you “CONSULTING”?. Seeing as they are approx. 50 million in ENGLAND. I assume the DRAFT has been put together and the PUBLIC CONSULTATION is a P.R. thought by James Hunt.

    • NHS England says:

      Dear David,
      These public consultations, as with all consultations that we publish, are on draft propositions and are open to anyone to respond to. In the case of consultations on draft clinical commissioning policies and service specifications, these drafts are put together by Clinical Reference Groups, which include both clinical experts in the relevant field as well as those representing appropriate patient groups.
      Kind regards,
      NHS England