Consultation Response: Network Contract Direct Enhanced Service: Draft Outline Service Specifications

These specifications state what ‘the centre’ expects these new networks to deliver and report on, in order to get the extra investment going in. These are very important documents, because what gets measured and funded tends to drive behaviour in the NHS in very direct ways.

Overwhelming feedback from the primary care community has been that the specifications demand too much too soon. We have also submitted our views, which you can find in the attachment above. Our overall argument is that the specifications risk disrupting the approach the NHS England/ Improvement team, together with us and other stakeholders, have been taking so far. Our work has been shaped by the insight that PCNs are only just emerging, that they need to find their feet, that they are very different from each other, and that a supportive, developmental approach is the way to go.

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