NCS is thrilled to have been awarded £340,000 from the Department of Health’s Innovation, Excellence and Service Development Fund. The grant will enable us to work with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in different NHS regions in England. We’ll be running projects that help CCGs better understand how to commission for neurology.
We have found commissioners don’t currently know how to provide best practice neurology commissioning, meaning local people aren’t always getting the best services, nor commissioners the best value.
Effective commissioning can lead to fewer costly hospital admissions and reduce usage of more expensive services. We’ll be working alongside CCGs to:
- analyse their needs, services and finances
- help them engage with, and listen to, service users
- design cost-effective services that meet the needs of people affected by a long-term neurological condition.
The work will begin in three regions across England. We will add a further three local areas each year. NCS aims to ensure that benefits are shared: we’ll spread best practice between the commissioners we work with, to set a benchmark for best practice commissioning.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:
“I’m pleased to be able to announce that the Department of Health will be supporting Neurological Commissioning Support. It will make a big difference to local communities in England and I would like to thank all those involved for their hard work in getting this project off the ground.”