Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his Department’s policy that commissioners can consider the full (a) economic, (b) social and (c) population health value of a health service intervention and not only its acquisition cost when making a commissioning decision; and what guidance his Department has issued to support such decision making.

The National Health Service needs to be able to deliver the right care, in the right place, with optimal value. Commissioners must consider the interests of patients when making commissioning decisions, not only the financial cost of commissioning a particular service.

Guidance is available to support clinical commissioning groups. In September 2016, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2017-19. Subsequent refresher guidance has also been published. In March 2018, NHS England also published updated guidance on planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients. NHS RightCare is a national NHS England-supported programme committed to delivering the best care to patients, making the NHS’s money go as far as possible and improving patient outcomes.