PCTs must learn about local needs
Before embarking on the commissioning of services, primary care trusts need to have a much better grasp of local health requirements, according to a Healthcare Commission report on the state of health care in England and Wales released this week. Concerns also persist over unequal access to health care.
“The Healthcare Commission and the Department of Health need to
work together to create a more effective way of evaluating how well PCTs
commission
services,” the report states. And it highlights “deprivation
and geographical location” as major factors limiting people’s
access to the services they need. “It is a major worry that in
poorer areas, where people tend to experience worse health, access to
GPs is at its worst” the commission says.
The report recommends that NHS organisations focus on learning from the
information available to them, in particular data on errors, near misses,
clinical outcomes and complaints.
It adds that senior staff must take the lead in establishing a culture
of learning from mistakes and putting patients at the centre of the decision-making
process. “Patients are safer in organisations that support staff
in the constant challenge of minimising risk and that are keen to learn
from their mistakes.”
The Healthcare Commission points out that most incidents
reported during
2006–07 occurred in acute and general hospitals, adding that reporting
from ambulance services, general practice and community pharmacy is notably
low.
Other recommendations made by the Healthcare Commission involve:
• Ensuring that effective systems to protect children are in place
• Placing more emphasis on listening to individual patients
• Doing more to assess the outcomes of both independent- and NHS-sector
services through benchmarking and audit
In response to the report, Howard Stoate MP (Lab, Dartford), chairman
of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, said: “A key factor in solving
health inequalities in the UK is to ensure that all the expertise and
resources in primary care are fully utilised.”
He suggested that community pharmacists could provide some of the services
currently provided by GPs. “That’s particularly the case
in tackling major public health challenges, notably in managing obesity
and obesity-linked conditions, and helping smokers to stop smoking.”
Mark Todd MP (Lab, South Derbyshire), treasurer of the APPG, added: “There
is growing agreement that pharmacies could and should take on some of
the services GPs are currently expected to provide. We hope that Lord
Darzi’s review and the forthcoming pharmacy White Paper acknowledge
this and reflect it in future primary care policy.” |
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