Heartbeat: Bringing clarity to commissioning and contracts

March 3, 2021

Contracts, commissioning, tariffs and agreements, four words you would not necessarily associate with the ‘free at the point of use’ National Health Service model that we have all grown to love. However, without these measures in place, you would be surprised to learn that we most likely would not be able to deliver any care at all.

Every service we provide, every clinic available, every patient we see and every procedure we carry out is impacted by commissioning, contracts, agreements and the management of these. It dictates how much funding and support each will receive and balancing out the funding and the increase in demand for these services.

This complex world of contracts and income is often something we often take for granted. It is something that is magically there, bestowed upon us from the government and we are funded to help mend people, fix broken bones and deliver babies, but along with this comes an intricate framework of conditions, particulars and obligations.

To help colleagues find their way, the newest member of the income and contracts team joining the Trust in April 2020 has taken the time to develop a getting to know the basics guide in contracting and income.

To find out more, Heartbeat spoke to Contracts and Income Officer, Demi Jennings.

Demi said: “Patients, the public and often colleagues don’t always understand that there is a complex process in place that helps our Trust secure funding to pay for services, the income agreed through this work is used to fund patient centred high-quality services that we deliver through our care. But it’s important to understand that without this income and structured contracting, we can’t deliver care, we can’t pay wages, and we can’t pay for equipment – it is essential.

“But importantly, it needs everyone’s understanding and support. As a team, we don’t necessarily know what a service needs in the way of funding, what the specification should be, what the objectives or outcomes should be, we need our colleagues across the Trust to work with us to help identify these and begin working as a more integrated team.

“It can be hard to understand at first, the NHS is funded through many different sources including, but not limited to, NHS England, Clinical Commissioning Groups, charitable funds and other NHS organisations. Through this elaborate network, meaningful conversations and a clear focus on patient centred care, we have to be able to offer a well organised and effective service to be able to agree on the funding for the care we deliver. And when it is time to improve our service, offer an alternative or to provide what the patients wants or needs, we have to renegotiate to secure the money needed to make these changes. But this all needs close working, understanding and support between clinical, operational and corporate teams to get the best outcomes for all.”

The handy guide that Demi has developed takes colleagues on a structured journey to understand the commissioning routes and cycle, responsibilities and processes that are in play to help us secure, manage and maintain long term contracts that allow us to deliver high quality best practice care. With insight into service development, activity planning, payment methods and quality requirements, the guide has become a must read for all newcomers to the NHS and due to the ever changing landscape of contracting to all healthcare staff.

To find out more about Income and Contracts, contact the income and contracts team on swbh.contracting@nhs.net and one of the team will be happy to help.