Designing and reviewing servicesInformation about commissioning including strategic planning, procuring services and monitoring and evaluation, and how forums can help. Commissioning is the process local authorities, integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England use to plan, purchase and monitor services. It omprises a range of activities and there are various ways parent carer forums can become involved. Commissioning a service involves three stages: Strategic planning The planning stage includes assessing the needs of the local population for the service. For example, the number of disabled children requiring a wheelchair service. Local services may be mapped and reviewed to see what is already available, how effective the provision is and any gaps. Based on the information collected, priorities for a service will be identified. Procuring services Once a commissioning team have completed the planning stage, they will move into the procurement stage. Procurement is the process by which the commissioner selects organisations to deliver the service. One of the key activities within this process is creating a service specification. A service specification sets out what the service will provide, the outcomes it should deliver, how long it will be funded and how it will be monitored. The procurement process often involves a tendering process, where different organisations compete to win the contract to deliver the service. When an organisation is selected, a contract between the organisation paying for the service and the organisation(s) who will provide the service is drawn up. Contracts are usually made for the organisation to deliver the service for a specific number of years. Monitoring and evaluation Commissioners hold regular review meetings with organisations providing services. This is to make sure they are delivering the service as set out in the contract. They might ask for the number of complaints about a service, asking service providers to show evidence of patient satisfaction with the service they deliver, as well as evidence of patient involvement in improving the service. It is important that commissioners review feedback from individuals using the services. This enables commissioners to understand the quality of the provision and the experience of those using it. During these meetings, commissioners are likely to review any Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the specification. KPIs are measures that show if an organisation is achieving its objectives. An example of a KPI might be ‘all children will be seen within 6 weeks of a referral to the service being made’. You can find out more on NHS England website. Parent carer forum involvement Parent carer forums will find they can be most effective in improving a service by getting involved at the start of the commissioning cycle and remaining involved throughout all the stages. Strategic planning – how forums can help Before commissioning a service, commissioners should listen to the experiences of patients and carers using the existing service and consider the needs of the local population. Commissioners also have to take into account any national guidelines that set standards for services. Parent carer forums can help provide evidence of need. For example, running a consultation of their members to gather evidence that children are going without a service, or waiting a long time to see a service. It can be timely at this stage to run a workshop or focus group to find out how members experience the existing service. This will help identify what should be in the new service specification to improve the service. It can also be useful to compare what the current service provides with what the national guidelines set out for that service, for example NICE. You can read more about this in the Contact briefing paper Making use of clinical guidance and standards. Procurement – how forums can help Forums can help commissioners develop a service specification which describes what services will be provided, such as: Where the service is to be provided – for example in one centre, in children’s centres or in people’s homes The types of health professionals required to deliver the service and their level of knowledge and experience Which other services or health professionals they have to liaise with – for example GPs, physiotherapists, schools Maximum waiting times between referral and treatment What treatments or equipment will be offered, and Which patients will be eligible to receive treatment. If forums influence what’s in the service specification, the service is more likely to work for families. Example – Northumberland Parent Carer Forum: Co-producing the sensory processing service website Northumberland Parent Carer Forum worked with the lead Occupational Therapist for Northumbria Healthcare Trust to co-produce the new sensory processing service and website for children and young people (and their families) in Northumberland. The ICB funded this work. They attended various meetings with her OT team. They discussed what the service might look like, referrals and ongoing support. Then they talked to parents about how they would like to access the information and what printable resources they needed. They organised feedback and testing sessions with some of their wonderful parents. In October, the highly-anticipated service and its website launched, a service which many have gratefully received. Find out more about the Northumbria Children’s Occupational Therapy Sensory Processing Service in Northumberland. Northumberland PCF steering group and parent rep During the tendering process, different organisations compete to win the contract to deliver the service. Information events usually take place to explain the application process to organisations interested in providing the service. Sometimes, parent carer forums have had the opportunity to talk at these events to explain their priorities for the service to potential providers. Parent carer forums can also provide parent carer representatives to sit on the panel selecting the successful organisations. Monitoring and evaluation – how forums can help Parent carer forums can feedback to commissioners any dissatisfaction with the service that they hear about from their members. They can ask them to discuss it with the provider at the meeting. Commissioners will not know about families’ problems with services unless someone tells them they are happening. Example – Southend: Improving wheelchair and transport services The parent carer forum in Southend contacted the commissioners and told them about problems with the existing service. The forum worked with the commissioners to draw up a new service specification which would better meet children’s needs. The forum encouraged parents to contact them if they had problems with the new service. This would be fed back to the commissioner and often the problem would be quickly resolved. This also provided a ready mechanism to help the commissioners monitor the service. Making contact with commissioners Commissioners can be extremely useful contacts for forums. The local authority/ ICB might employ them, or they may work for an organisation that provides commissioning support to the local authority/ ICB. Commissioners who specialise in children’s services can be extremely knowledgeable in their field and be useful allies for forums. In some areas, there are joint children’s commissioners responsible for children’s services across both health, and the local authority. Forums appear to find it much easier to get involved when there is a joint commissioner for children’s services. Commissioners are, however, sometimes asked to commission services for which they have no previous experience. For example, a commissioner with no previous experience might be asked to commission a children’s wheelchair service. Parent carer forums should not assume that a commissioner has in-depth knowledge of an existing service. Be willing to explain to them what is good and bad about the way a service currently works. Do you have any thoughts about this page? Visit our How to feedback page to share them. Looking for something else? You can find a full list of pages on our Parent carer forum handbook contents page. Find out more about designing and reviewing services Making your case Click here to watch this video on our YouTube channel Find out more Participation and co-production find out more about the forums role in co-production Participation and co-production Communication and gathering parent carer voice Find out how to gather voice Communication and gathering the parent carer voice Working with local authorities Find out more about the forums role in working with local authorities Working with Local Authorities Working with organisations that provide health services Find out more about the forums role working with health services Working with organisations that provide health services Co-producing the local offer Find out more about the local offer Local offer ShareCopy URLCopied!Share via EmailShare via FacebookShare via TwitterShare via WhatsAppShare via LinkedIn
Strategic planning The planning stage includes assessing the needs of the local population for the service. For example, the number of disabled children requiring a wheelchair service. Local services may be mapped and reviewed to see what is already available, how effective the provision is and any gaps. Based on the information collected, priorities for a service will be identified.
Strategic planning The planning stage includes assessing the needs of the local population for the service. For example, the number of disabled children requiring a wheelchair service. Local services may be mapped and reviewed to see what is already available, how effective the provision is and any gaps. Based on the information collected, priorities for a service will be identified.
Procuring services Once a commissioning team have completed the planning stage, they will move into the procurement stage. Procurement is the process by which the commissioner selects organisations to deliver the service. One of the key activities within this process is creating a service specification. A service specification sets out what the service will provide, the outcomes it should deliver, how long it will be funded and how it will be monitored. The procurement process often involves a tendering process, where different organisations compete to win the contract to deliver the service. When an organisation is selected, a contract between the organisation paying for the service and the organisation(s) who will provide the service is drawn up. Contracts are usually made for the organisation to deliver the service for a specific number of years.
Procuring services Once a commissioning team have completed the planning stage, they will move into the procurement stage. Procurement is the process by which the commissioner selects organisations to deliver the service. One of the key activities within this process is creating a service specification. A service specification sets out what the service will provide, the outcomes it should deliver, how long it will be funded and how it will be monitored. The procurement process often involves a tendering process, where different organisations compete to win the contract to deliver the service. When an organisation is selected, a contract between the organisation paying for the service and the organisation(s) who will provide the service is drawn up. Contracts are usually made for the organisation to deliver the service for a specific number of years.
Monitoring and evaluation Commissioners hold regular review meetings with organisations providing services. This is to make sure they are delivering the service as set out in the contract. They might ask for the number of complaints about a service, asking service providers to show evidence of patient satisfaction with the service they deliver, as well as evidence of patient involvement in improving the service. It is important that commissioners review feedback from individuals using the services. This enables commissioners to understand the quality of the provision and the experience of those using it. During these meetings, commissioners are likely to review any Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the specification. KPIs are measures that show if an organisation is achieving its objectives. An example of a KPI might be ‘all children will be seen within 6 weeks of a referral to the service being made’. You can find out more on NHS England website.
Monitoring and evaluation Commissioners hold regular review meetings with organisations providing services. This is to make sure they are delivering the service as set out in the contract. They might ask for the number of complaints about a service, asking service providers to show evidence of patient satisfaction with the service they deliver, as well as evidence of patient involvement in improving the service. It is important that commissioners review feedback from individuals using the services. This enables commissioners to understand the quality of the provision and the experience of those using it. During these meetings, commissioners are likely to review any Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the specification. KPIs are measures that show if an organisation is achieving its objectives. An example of a KPI might be ‘all children will be seen within 6 weeks of a referral to the service being made’. You can find out more on NHS England website.
Example – Northumberland Parent Carer Forum: Co-producing the sensory processing service website Northumberland Parent Carer Forum worked with the lead Occupational Therapist for Northumbria Healthcare Trust to co-produce the new sensory processing service and website for children and young people (and their families) in Northumberland. The ICB funded this work. They attended various meetings with her OT team. They discussed what the service might look like, referrals and ongoing support. Then they talked to parents about how they would like to access the information and what printable resources they needed. They organised feedback and testing sessions with some of their wonderful parents. In October, the highly-anticipated service and its website launched, a service which many have gratefully received. Find out more about the Northumbria Children’s Occupational Therapy Sensory Processing Service in Northumberland. Northumberland PCF steering group and parent rep
Example – Northumberland Parent Carer Forum: Co-producing the sensory processing service website Northumberland Parent Carer Forum worked with the lead Occupational Therapist for Northumbria Healthcare Trust to co-produce the new sensory processing service and website for children and young people (and their families) in Northumberland. The ICB funded this work. They attended various meetings with her OT team. They discussed what the service might look like, referrals and ongoing support. Then they talked to parents about how they would like to access the information and what printable resources they needed. They organised feedback and testing sessions with some of their wonderful parents. In October, the highly-anticipated service and its website launched, a service which many have gratefully received. Find out more about the Northumbria Children’s Occupational Therapy Sensory Processing Service in Northumberland. Northumberland PCF steering group and parent rep
Example – Southend: Improving wheelchair and transport services The parent carer forum in Southend contacted the commissioners and told them about problems with the existing service. The forum worked with the commissioners to draw up a new service specification which would better meet children’s needs. The forum encouraged parents to contact them if they had problems with the new service. This would be fed back to the commissioner and often the problem would be quickly resolved. This also provided a ready mechanism to help the commissioners monitor the service.
Example – Southend: Improving wheelchair and transport services The parent carer forum in Southend contacted the commissioners and told them about problems with the existing service. The forum worked with the commissioners to draw up a new service specification which would better meet children’s needs. The forum encouraged parents to contact them if they had problems with the new service. This would be fed back to the commissioner and often the problem would be quickly resolved. This also provided a ready mechanism to help the commissioners monitor the service.
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