To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he had made of levels of patient engagement in the recent NHS England clinical policy prioritisation process for specialised services.
Answered on
13 September 2016
Although NHS England’s prioritisation process is not yet complete, it has received 400 formal responses through the two public consultations. These responses come from a range of organisations and individuals and relate to the development of a process for prioritising investment in specialised services.
In spring 2015, NHS England undertook the “Investing in Specialised Services” consultation which proposed a number of principles to guide prioritisation, and described a proposed process for decision making. This was a 90 day consultation during which five face to face events were held (250 attendees) and targeted focus groups were also undertaken. Responses to the consultation questions were captured via an online survey. There were 278 responses to the consultation. All responses were externally analysed and a report produced which was published alongside NHS England’s response to the consultation.
In April 2016, building on that earlier consultation, NHS England launched a further 30 day consultation “Developing a Method to Assist Investment Decisions in Specialised Commissioning”. This consultation set out a proposed method that would be used when making recommendations on investment decisions for 2016/17.
The consultation attracted 122 responses which were considered by external analysts who produced a content analysis which was published alongside NHS England’s response to the consultation. Consultation activity included a consultation guide and online survey, direct meetings with key stakeholder groups, two publicly open webinars (virtual meetings) on which around 150 people participated and one face to face event attended by over 80 people.