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Contract Leads Meetings

At the request of PCT contract Leads we have established a contract leads meeting, the purpose of which includes: ensuring effective communication between Contract Managers throughout Cheshire & Merseyside supporting PCTs in further developing contract management knowledge and expertise throughout Cheshire & Merseyside support and develop communication channels between Co-coordinating and Associate PCTs
share and disseminate good practice disseminate information from the Department of Health and NHS North West
develop a consistent approach in contract negotiations to facilitate and support PCTs as ‘world class’ commissioners

Meetings take place on the third Thursday of the month.

Contracting 2008/09 – Timetable

In conjunction with PCT contract leads we have developed a timetable for the 2008/09 contracting round which also reflects information provided by the SHA and Department of Health. It is recognised that the timetable is very challenging, but PCT leads at the workshop agreed this was a good start, if we are to achieve sign-off by the end of February. Through the contract leads meeting and regular contact with PCT colleagues CISSU will regularly review and update the timetable and provide support where required.

Quality

PCTs have asked CISSU to support them in developing generic Quality documentation for 2008/09 contracts. We are working closely with Contract and Quality leads throughout Cheshire & Merseyside to progress this work and have already collated lists of key clinical performance indicators and identified current good practice in existing documentation across the North West.

We are meeting with Quality leads in December to:

  • identify key priority areas for clinical performance indicators,
  • agree how these may be effectively monitored, and
  • identify how CISSU may support the PCTs in benchmarking performance across the patch.

 

Information Update

CISSU presented at the Data Quality and Clinical Coding Team (DQCCT) Clinical Coding Conference on 14th November 2007 at Liverpool Marriott Hotel. The theme of the presentation provided an overview of CISSU’s role, a review of ICIS reporting and HRG allocation with a conclusion on benefit of the DQCCT and CISSU working together in the future. Development of the CISSU website is nearly complete and scheduled to be launched 30th November 2007. The website will include minutes from contract meetings across Cheshire & Merseyside and will assist communication between Co-coordinating and Associate PCTs.

A very high level piece of work was carried out looking at the cost of activity using the newly published 2008/09 Road Test tariff. This work was completed using 2006/07 activity costed at 2007/08 (using 2006/07 tariff with a 2.5% uplift as a proxy). Some PCTs have used this data to complete the 2008/09 road test exercise with the understanding that the work was done at a high level and only being a very rough guide of the changes. If required a further more detailed and comprehensive piece of work could be carried out, for example, using April to September 2007 data looking at average lengths of stay and average prices by specialty.

CISSU Workshop

We held our second workshop on 6th November. The event was well attended by a cross section of colleagues from the different disciplines involved in contracting. All eight PCTs were represented, along with colleagues from the SHA, Specialist Commissioning, and the Greater Manchester Commissioning Business Service. Initial feedback has been very positive. The key areas covered during the event included

  • An update of the national position on the New Contract following the sessions at The Lowry on 30th October
    Update on the CISSU information systems including details of the new Website
  • Launch of the proposed timetable suggested by CISSU for the 2008/09 contracting round and discussion on key issues
  • Breakout discussions on how PCTs can work together within the contracting framework
  • The key note speaker was Andrew Wilk from the South Coast SHA who spoke about the work he has led around reclassification of activity
  • A briefing on the ‘Pay for Quality’ pilot and a breakout discussion on taking quality forward within the contractual framework.

We will supply a report to PCTs and Attendees on the outcomes of the workshop in the near future.