This operational note provides details about the planned care control centre.

Purpose

• To demonstrate clear and detailed understanding of what is leading to demand for planned care.
• To ensure clinical leadership in rapidly diagnosing problems in the system which lead to additional demand, implementing solutions for these.
• To ensure sustained weekly and monthly focus on activity levels.
• To target clinical and managerial commissioning staff to shorten the time taken for decision-making relating to the planned care system.

Objectives

• Demand maintained at affordable, sustainable (clinically & financially) level.
• Evidence based commissioning decisions for our population (choice for individuals).
• Release resources for other areas (prevention etc).
• Improved clinical decision making

How?

By taking action at certain points of intervention at whole system level:

• Commissioning policy, clinical referral guidelines and pathway compliance.
• Referral demand.
• Consultant to consultant referral demand.
• Follow-up demand.

When does it meet?

• The planned care control centre steering group meets every Tuesday morning with the team work in the centre on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

What does this mean for our colleagues?

• For primary care: the CCG will work with practices to understand growth and to act upon variation in referrals, referral quality and demand. This will include providing member practices with a clearer view on affordable levels of care as a component of their commissioning role. As providers, this focus on demand will present opportunities for innovative practices or groups of practices to work together to support more cost-effective care.
• For secondary care: the CCG will work with secondary care colleagues to continue to implement clearer pathways to support the administration of right-first-time referrals via the Planned Care Control Centre. Through contracts the CCG will give clarity regarding its treatment policies and arrangements to ensure that these policies are enacted in all relevant care settings.

We are keen to seek advice, share best practice and experience from our NEW Devon GP colleagues. If you would be interested in sharing good practice and/ or contributing to our CCG work, please contact us at: plannedcare.control@nhs.net or call 01626 883 788

Thank you,

Tom Debenham, Lead GP for planned care Eastern locality and centre clinical lead

Gary Lenden, Lead GP for planned care Western locality

James Szymankiewicz, Lead GP for planned care Northern locality

Karen Barry, Head of DRSS and Operational Lead for Planned Care Control Centre

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Publication date: 12 March 2015