Benefits for Commissioners and Communities

For Commissioners

These include:

Understand the needs of the local community so that the PCT can individually and collectively assess their own particular strengths and weakness and explore the benefits of working with other agencies on some elements of the commissioning cycle.
Equip commissioners with a good understanding of changing needs, based on robust, easily accessible data. This includes knowledge of marginalised and disadvantaged groups.
Enable local people the chance to contribute to problem solving which enhances their public confidence in their PCT and the NHS and social care as a whole. It also delivers greater accountability and trust between commissioners and communities from increased engagement of communities in decision making.
Identify areas for service development based on the needs of that community– both individually and collectively and from within the NHS, social care and independent sector alike.
Implement a cost benefit analysis so that the specification for integrated health and social care services is developed in affordable manner on a year by year basis.
Identify new areas for service improvement that can be successfully executed and which provide more accessible, responsive and targeted services based on local experience and needs.

These include:

A greater voice and input into the design and delivery of local health and social care services
Reaching the hard to reach in the community
Increase in skills confidence and self esteem for individuals and stronger social capital within whole communities
Greater local ownership and commitment to local services and an increasing understanding of change, and confidence in the way services are planned
Increased better interaction and engagement of services, better insight into their own conditions and needs and better health and social care outcomes
Support to communities in setting up social enterprises to deliver elements of health and social care services