Your challenges
GP commissioning is a radical change in commissioning health services. PCTs, SHAs and GPs need rapidly to understand the policy as it develops. GP consortia will need to be established with sufficient flexibility to respond to changing policy and ensure a smooth transition for commissioning health services.
Achieving your ambitions
Rapid understanding of a range of legal issues is key to the success of GP commissioning. First and foremost, you need to set up flexible organisational structures, establish robust governance and accountability frameworks and address workforce issues.
During the transitional phase GP consortia will need support in understanding the duties and responsibilities that apply in carrying out public functions and establishing contracting and procurement expertise. As policy and legislation from the centre is published, this will need to be incorporated into GP commissioning.
The strength you need
You need lawyers who understand the NHS and have commissioning expertise. We have supported our health clients on every NHS reorganisation for the last 25 years and have drawn together an inter-disciplinary team to guide you through the challenging and exciting times ahead. The team includes senior specialists in organisational form, commissioning, contracting and procurement, public sector duties and responsibilities, clinical corporate and information governance, workforce matters, property and environmental issues.
Lawyers you can trust
We are ranked in the top tiers for health in Chambers UK and the Legal 500. Our clients praise the health sector's "superb strength in depth" and regard the health teams as "responsive and professional, providing focused advice against pressurised timescales". This reflects the dedication of the team to deliver pragmatic, commercial advice that always provides our clients with a way forward whatever the challenges they face.