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Primary care-led commissioning and public involvement in the English National Health Service. Lessons from the past.

Petsoulas, C., Peckham, Stephen, Smiddy, J., Wilson, Patricia M. (2014) Primary care-led commissioning and public involvement in the English National Health Service. Lessons from the past. Primary Health Care Research and Development, 16 (3). pp. 289-303. ISSN 1463-4236. E-ISSN 1477-1128. (doi:10.1017/S1463423614000486) (KAR id:46139)

Abstract

Background: Patient and Public involvement (PPI) in health care occupies a central place in Western democracies. In England, this theme has been continuously prominent since the introduction of market reforms in the early 1990s. The health care reforms implemented by the current Coalition Government are making primary care practitioners the main commissioners of health care services in the National Health Service, and a duty is placed on them to involve the public in commissioning decisions and strategies. Since implementation of PPI initiatives in primary care commissioning is not new, we asked how likely it is that the new reforms will make a difference. We scanned the main literature related to primary care-led commissioning and found little evidence of effective PPI thus far. We suggest that unless the scope and intended objectives of PPI are clarified and appropriate resources are devoted to it, PPI will continue to remain empty rhetoric and box ticking. Aim: To examine the effect of previous PPI initiatives on health care commissioning and draw lessons for future development.

Method: We scanned the literature reporting on previous PPI initiatives in primary careled commissioning since the introduction of the internal market in 1991. In particular, we looked for specific contexts, methods and outcomes of such initiatives.

Findings: 1. PPI in commissioning has been constantly encouraged by policy makers in England. 2. Research shows limited evidence of effective methods and outcomes so far. 3. Constant reconfi-

guration of health care structures has had a negative impact on PPI. 4. The new structures look hardly better poised to bring about effective public and patient involvement.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S1463423614000486
Uncontrolled keywords: commissioning; community participation; England; health policy; NHS; public involvement; user involvement
Subjects: R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Depositing User: Patricia Wilson
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2014 15:37 UTC
Last Modified: 08 Dec 2022 22:43 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/46139 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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