Improving health and social care in London: supporting integrated commissioning

In November 2011, London Councils commissioned this research to explore where there might be opportunities for, and benefits of, integrating commissioning support arrangements at a local level. An important aim of this research was to explore the increased value for money and effectiveness that greater integration between the commissioning functions of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and local government could bring.

Key findings

The integration of commissioning support for health and wellbeing, children’s services, adult social care and public health with that to support the work of CCGs, could result in a shared resource of up to £50 per head, as compared with the £25 per head stand alone resource that is currently available to CCGs. This could provide much needed capacity to deliver the innovation and transformation that it is essential to meeting the financial challenges of our time.

It is important to make a distinction between ‘processing’ and ‘strategic’ local delivery commissioning support functions, with processing capable of being clustered in shared support arrangements, and strategic integrated local delivery essential for translating the commissioning intent into the delivery of local change on the ground.

Although commissioning support is a means and not an end in itself, effective integrated commissioning support arrangements offer the opportunity both to make the best use of available resources for
commissioning and to ensure that there is alignment of effort at a local level.

Please download a copy of the full report above.