Specialised services commissioning: new service specifications and clinical policy

Overview

The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) has added seven new draft service specifications and a further clinical policy for specialised commissioning to its consultation. The consultation period for these new additions will run from 11 January to 22 February 2013.

The newly published draft clinical policy is A4 Complex Endovascular Stent Grafts in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and the proposed service specifications are:

Area A – Internal medicine (digestion, renal, hepatobiliary and circulatory systems)

A3d1 – Respiratory: Complex Home Ventilation

A3d3 – Respiratory – Severe Asthma

A8c – Colorectal: Complex Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Area B – Cancer and blood (infection, cancer, immunity and haematology)

B1b – Brachytherapy

B7a – Infectious Diseases

Area D – Trauma (traumatic injury, orthopaedics, head and neck, and rehabilitation)

D12a – Ophthalmology (Adult)

D12b – Ophthalmology (Paediatrics)

There are two remaining service specifications which have yet to be published in draft. Service specification C7, Tier 4 Personality Disorders, is in further development and will be subject to consultation at a later date.

Service specification E5b, Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) surgery, is being developed in alignment with the national Safe and Sustainable process for taking forward the strategic and operational review of ACHD services across England, supported by the relevant professional associations. The proposed specification must be aligned to the recommendations made by the Safe and Sustainable Advisory Group and will be available for consultation once these are published.

Why your views matter

A range of service specifications and clinical policies for specialised services commissioning have been developed by Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs).

There has already been extensive engagement on these new national specifications and policies, as they have been developed with the support and input of lead clinicians and patient and public representatives. This approach has helped ensure that the views of key stakeholders have informed and influenced the policies and specifications.

We now want to test them further with more stakeholders to ensure all needs and considerations have been taken into account.

What happens next

This consultation is now closed.

Thank you for your feedback. The NHS CB is working through your comments and will publish a full response on this website in spring 2013.