GPs reveal IT concerns for 2012

GPs leading the move towards clinical commissioning have expressed concern that the authorisation process for clinical commissioning groups is becoming rigid and bureaucratic.

One GP contacted by EHI Primary Care warned that “we are being pushed from the rhetoric of localism to something which is more rigid and controlled.”

While Dr Stewart Findlay, chair of Durham Dales CCG, said the authorisation process was starting to “look like world class commissioning all over again.”

However, most of those asked to look ahead to 2012 said they expected to gain authorisation next year.

Indeed, Dr David Jenner, a member of the national executive committee of the NHS Alliance, said “anybody who is half willing” was likely to make it, since “the government will look to get as many CCGs as possible authorised.”

The government launched its ‘Liberating the NHS’ white paper 18 months ago. Although the Health and Social Care Bill that will formally enact the reforms has yet to complete its passage through Parliament, many of the changes are starting to take shape on the ground.

The NHS Commissioning Board has been set up as a special health authority, while strategic health authorities and primary care groups have been formed into clusters, and CCGs are starting to emerge.

The GPs contacted by EHI PC expressed some concern about the future of GP computing when the GP Systems of Choice framework comes to an end in 2013.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, a BMA General Practitioner Committee negotiator and lead on IT issues, said there needed to be agreement “well before 2013, so everybody has time to plan.”

In the meantime, he said, “PCT clusters need to provide continuity of provision under GPSoC, because as clusters become more remote and the IT workforce reduces, practices are reporting a less responsive service.”

Dr Findlay said his CCG would be happy to work with the “reactive” and “responsive” IT team at his PCT.

But other GPs said that while they would use their PCT IT team or a commissioning support unit initially, they might look to the private sector for IT support in the longer term.

Other technologies mentioned by the GPs contacted included systems to share information between CCG members, shared data warehouses, and systems to analyse referrals and pathways.

However, Roz Foad, chair of the British Computer Society’s Primary Healthcare Specialist Group, said she hoped CCGs would use technology to “manage the care of patients first and foremost, instead of [seeing it] as a means of identifying savings.”

Read more about the views of GP commissioning leaders in Insight today.