response to the Health Select Committee Report on Commissioning, Sir Richard Thompson, President of the Royal College of Physicians says:
The RCP welcomes the Health Select Committee’s Commissioning Report, published on 18 January. We particularly endorse the recommendation that clinical engagement in commissioning should draw from as wide a pool of practitioners as possible. Through wide-ranging reforms laid out in the White Paper Equity and Excellence, the Government plans to put GPs at the heart of commissioning.
We welcome clinician led commissioning, however hospital specialists’ involvement should be mandatory to ensure the best quality care for patients. As we argued in our evidence to the Health Select Committee’s Inquiry, we believe that systems for joint working should be built in rather than left naturally to occur. Without purposeful design, productive relationships will develop in some places and not others. For commissioning to be completely effective strong relationships are needed across the country. We look forward to the Committee reviewing arrangements proposed for integrating the full range of clinical expertise into commissioning.