New specialised commissioning consultation launched
NHS England has today launched a consultation on four related policies that describe how NHS England will make decisions on funding for treatments that are not currently routinely commissioned.
The four policies are: in-year service developments, individual funding requests, funding experimental and unproven treatments, and continuing funding after clinical trials.
The public consultation, which launches today, will be open for 12 weeks and will ensure the policies help NHS England make the most effective, sustainable and fair use of its finite resources. The key themes of the consultation findings and feedback will be published on the NHS England website.
The draft policies are the result of a review of the eleven existing policies established when NHS England became responsible for commissioning of specialised services in 2013. The review, which took into account the lessons learned from using the policies in practice, as well as feedback from stakeholders, found that many of the original eleven are now covered by Department of Health or other NHS England policy. The four areas that still require distinct policies are the focus of the consultation.
A series of events will be run in conjunction with the consultation.
Face to face events
Details of these events and links for registration will be posted on the NHS England events page on 24 October.
Webinar events
Further webinars will be organised for later on in the consultation period