NHS reforms that give spending power to GPs are set to create a huge opportunity for outsourcing companies, as the government promotes a “social enterprise” model for healthcare.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has opened the door for providers to play a larger role in NHS skills resourcing as he announced major organisational reforms this week in his white paper.
In a speech outlining the paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS", he said that responsibility and accountability for NHS budgets will be moved away from managers towards front-line doctors. As part of the changes, NHS management costs will be slashed by more than 45 per cent, and more than £1 billion will be moved from back-office functions to fund front-line services, he said.
Under the new arrangements, GPs will be organised into up to 500 consortia, to buy the majority of hospital and community care for patients. Private healthcare providers, which already offer services to family doctors on a much smaller scale, are in a good position to gain new NHS contracts once GPs start spending the £80 billion allocated funds.
An independent and accountable NHS Commissioning Board will be set up to drive quality improvements through national guidance and standards to inform GP-led commissioning. The board will allocate resources according to the needs of local areas, and lead specialised commissioning.
Lansley said: “Our aim is to create the largest social enterprise sector in the world. But it is not a free-for-all. Monitor [the regulator of NHS trusts] will become a stronger economic regulator to ensure that the services being provided are efficient and effective – and that every area of the country has the NHS services it needs to provide a comprehensive service to all. The Care Quality Commission will safeguard standards of safety and quality.”
To read this full press release, please visit: http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/nhs-power-shift-will-provide-private-sector-opportunity.htm
The Local Government Group is on course to save £18.2 million by the end of a 10-year outsourcing contract.
The organisation outsourced its Finance, Human Resource administration, IT, Facilities Management, Customer Services, and Design and Print departments two years ago.
Latest figures show the Group, which represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales, is saving millions of pounds by outsourcing back office staff so it can represent its members even more effectively.
John Ransford, Chief Executive of the Group, said:
“Councils are currently under enormous financial pressure and need to find every way to become more efficient to avoid cutting vital frontline services on which millions of people rely.
“We too are committed to making the most effective use of our budget as we strive to give the best service to our members, providing real value for money for their subscriptions.
“We’re delighted to see such positive results after only two years and are keen to share our experience with councils. Money saved from back office work is money we can plough into our frontline services lobbying for our members and representing their interests as effectively as possible.”
To read the full press release, please visit: http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=12384946
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) will save the police service £150m in 2010/11 and is on course to help the service save at least £1bn by 2015.
That was the message Chief Executive Peter Neyroud gave to chief officers at the ACPO APA conference in Manchester today.
Summarising the work of the NPIA this year, Chief Constable Neyroud said it was his ambition to see every pound spent on the NPIA converted into a minimum £2 saving in the police service.
He outlined a catalogue of savings the Agency will help the service to save this year, including:
• £100m worth of efficiency savings through business and workforce change processes.
This work will contribute to a target of £500m of cashable efficiency gains for the service by 2015.
• £25m cash-saving improvements for the service through better use of technology and procurement,
as part of a broader scheme of work to save £200m on police IT by 2015.
• £10m by helping police forces to share "back office" functions, like finance and HR as part of a
plan to save £75m by 2015.
• £20m of national police non-IT procurement savings.
Chief Constable Peter Neyroud said:
"The NPIA is at the forefront of delivering savings to ensure policing offers maximum value for money at a time when austerity measures are biting. Our plans are ambitious but that is what's called for in this difficult financial climate. Policing will not be immune from the cuts facing the public sector.
"Our challenge is to do more with less by being more intelligent and efficient in how we deliver policing services. Collaboration, sharing and central procurement will be the hallmarks of how the NPIA helps the police service to achieve significant savings in the future."
As part of its own cost saving measures, the NPIA has put forward to the Home Office detailed proposals to save an additional £30m this year, reducing its operating budget in-year to £436m.
Public Sector Outsourcing 2010 is looking forward to hearing from invited speaker, Dr David Horne, NPIA Director of Resources, National Police Improvement Agency, discuss these efficiency savings and how to provide sustained service delivery.
To read the full NPIA press release, please visit: http://www.npia.police.uk/en/16182.htm
Last week's budget announcement delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP, focused on driving down the country's deficit.
Local government specifically will face cuts equivalent to double its spending on highways, or more than it spends on the whole of adult and children's social care combined, if it is to achieve a 25 per cent efficiency saving from its current £120bn yearly spend. Local authorities will need to evaluate the efficiency savings that can be achieved through the sharing of back office functions and collaborative procurement, according to a poll of council chief executives for the New Local Government Network.
At Public Sector Outsourcing 2010, Ged Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Lancashire County Council is confirmed to demonstrate a best practice case study: 'Lancashire County Council – Streamlining back office functions through outsourcing framework'. This session will provide delegates with an insight into the 10 year, £1.9bn outsourcing framework agreement to be shared between 12 borough councils within Lancashire.
This week's budget announcement delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP, focused on driving down the country's deficit: "This Budget is needed to deal with our country's debts". He cited all sectors to assist the drive: "In this Budget everyone will be asked to contribute" and the private sector being key: "It is my deeply held belief that a genuine and long-lasting economic recovery must have its foundations in the private sector.
Business leaders have hailed this as an important step in getting Britain's economy back on the road to recovery. Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI, said: "There was clear recognition in the Budget of the role that business needs to play in getting the economy back into shape, and generating the jobs and wealth needed to sustain economic recovery."
Private sector partnerships and outsourcing are key ways to drive public sector cost savings. We are delighted to confirm Elizabeth Fells, Head of Public Services Reform, CBI Public Services Directorate to speak at Public Sector Outsourcing 2010 to discuss 'Doing More with Less – A Strategy to Restore Public Finances'. The session will cover such key issues as what is the role for outsourcing in the new political landscape post election, engaging with the private sector to restore public finances by 2015/16 and the business benefits through partnerships.
This year the health sector is to see a change in outsourcing contracts.
For almost a decade the UK healthcare software market has been centred on a £12.7bn National Programme for IT. But following the announcement of the government's plans for the NHS to make at least £20bn in efficiency cuts, opportunities have now arisen for emerging companies to gain access to the market place.
Healthcare industry executives believe that these budgetary constraints will increasingly make the NHS turn to technology to provide essential cost savings, mainly in the form of efficiencies in administration.
We are delighted to announce Ruth Ormsby, Director Shared Services, Department of Health as a confirmed speaker at Public Sector Outsourcing 2010 and will discuss 'Delivering Value to the NHS through a Joint Venture with the Private Sector'. This key session will cover such current issues as NHS Shared Business Services – the story 5 years on, delivering transformational change and modernising back office operations through shared services, as well as training on procurement technology from external experts.
Corporate leaders are being targeted by the coalition government to bring ideas for greater efficiency into the public sector. As Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude has been encouraging private sector leaders to work inside the public sector, and, among other initiatives, to produce 'business plans' which will help the sector find new and more efficient ways to work. In addition, such business plans would offer the government and the public a clear way to assess and audit progress made by departments in terms of reducing their spend and delivering services.
One candidate attracting great speculation is Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP and one of Tony Blair's favoured advisors. It is thought that he would effectively lead a number of successful business people who would sit on the boards of public sector organisations specifcally to oversee improvements in their operations.
While Lord Browne's appointment, if confirmed, would see the recruitment of a cross-bench peer into Whitehall, it has been emphasised at all times that all these appointments would be both politically and commercially independent with none of the new experts having to change or compromise their existing views and activities.
How do you find £6billion of savings from the public sector? First,
target the unnecessary high spending. Reports suggest, George
Osborne's first cull will see the end of perks for the civil service
such as first class air and rail travel.
The disappearance of such luxuries may cause a little discomfort, but
more pain is likely to come with the projected recruitment freeze in
the civil service, the reduction of quangos and of the public
sector's consultancy and advertising bill - the latter alone is
thought to be worth at least £1billion saved for the new chancellor.
With some quangos already engaged in proving their worth against the
threat of being cut entirely, these first cuts are only a taste of
the austerity to come. With such promises made by the coalition and
such challenges ahead, it is clear that all major government supply
contracts will now be subject to great scrutiny, with some even being
renegotiated in order to ensure value for money is maximised and
expenditure kept as low as possible.
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