Practice Based Commissioning (PBC)

The NAPC sees PBC as central to its business. The NAPC alone has lobbied long and hard to see the return of this policy to engage primary care and bring about its modernisation and that of secondary care.

PBC stems from an acknowledgement that by virtue of their clinical behaviour – making referrals, prescribing drugs, managing chronic diseases and improving self-care – GPs’ and nurses’ closeness to patients means they are uniquely placed to act as commissioners and educators of their patients, helping them to make informed choices; to become expert patients in the face of chronic disease and to manage episodes of self-limiting illness themselves. They are also well placed to identify service gaps; manage avoidable delays or complications in care pathways (including reducing emergency admissions), which influence important areas of expenditure.

PBC makes clinicians aware of the financial consequences of clinical decisions, as well as incentivise them to consider alternative and innovative forms of service delivery including improve patient pathways. Any efficiency gains can then be ploughed back into patient services or premises to adequately house extended service provision.

PBC Case Studies

Best Practice Case Studies

Case Study 1 - Access Diagnostics by AHPS

Case Study 2 - Angels and Spacemen – Sexual Health Services

Case Study 3 - FLU 2 U

Case Study 4 - Cancer Genetics Pilot

Case Study 5 - Working Improves Chronic Disease Management

Case Study 6 - Cystoscopy Services

Case Study 7 - Health Community Diversity Network

Case Study 8 - End of life planning between health professionals,patients and carers

Case Study 9 - Development of Respiratory Physiotherapy Workforce

Case Study 10 - Expert patient programme

Practice Based Commissioning - FAQ

Click here for the FAQ

Further Reading:

Practice based commissioning: practical implementation – what does this mean for practices?
This document is a summary of the key developments in Practice based commissioning: practical implementation. The full document can be downloaded from www.dh.gov.uk/practicebasedcommissioning.

Practice Based Commissioning (PBC) Agreement between Practices and Primary Care Trusts An Approach to Implementing Practice Based Commissioning
Developed by NHS Confederation and National Association for Primary Care