My first NHS Contract has been issued!

26th January - 30th January 2015

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to spend the morning in the GP out-of-hours (OOH) department based in the hospital. I met with one of the Doctors who showed me around, specifically looking at the A&E department and the AAU (Acute Assessment Unit) which are all based near the out-of-hours department. The out-of-hours unit is aimed at patients who require assessment, advice and treatment for urgent healthcare problems when a patient is not an emergency, but needs to be seen urgently. The out-of-hours GPs also visit patients at home when they are unable to get to the surgery. The session was really interesting as it allowed me to gain an insight into the clinical side of the services we commission, in addition to also seeing how the hospital operates on a daily basis.

I have now finished drawing up my first NHS Contract! There is a specific structure which can be followed to ensure the correct information and documents are included - this has been great for me, as it has allowed me to easily identify any elements that are missing. I have also been responsible for liaising with the healthcare provider to ensure the correct documentation is included before the contract is issued and signed.

Within the Business Team, at this time of year, we focus on drawing up contracts and implementing new CQUIN (Commissioning for Quality and Innovation) objectives for the local healthcare providers. This week, we held a CQUIN workshop which enabled a variety of staff from the hospital to work together to consider what goals they wish to achieve in 2015/16, in order to receive a 2.5% return of their contract value. The workshop was a really effective way of ensuring that the CQUINs we implement are achievable and realistic and allowed ideas to be shared between the group. There are certain national CQUINs which we must implement from NHS England, in addition to local CQUINs which CCGs are responsible for implementing.