Some rules of real commissioning (UK)

Steve Hards

With the concern that naïve service commissioners are being mesmerised into poor purchasing decisions by the claims of massive savings by telecare and telehealth suppliers, it is a breath of fresh air that consultant Valerie Iles of Really Learning is prepared to remind commissioners (especially the GPs who are new to the job) of reality. And she does it so succinctly: “If you want to save money count the money and not the ‘savings’. Understand the costs: direct and indirect, fixed and variable, average and marginal. Understand what happens to real costs with changes in activity levels or in service design. Ignore the tariff.” Read the other nine rules here: Some Rules of Real Commissioning. Pass the link to, or print the PDF version for, your commissioning contacts. (Don’t mention ‘World Class Commissioning’!). Heads-up thanks yet again to Roy Lilley.