We are only two months away from it becoming real for GP consortia. I was looking through the information going to one of our pathfinder executive meetings in the next week. The GP consortium is looking good for this year and will deliver within budget unless something unexpected happens. Buried within the report was some worrying […]
Category: Martin McShane
Martin McShane: The dog that hasn’t barked
As we wrestle with uncertain futures, financial stringencies, and retaining a focus on ensuring services continue to get delivered, there is a creeping realisation that something is missing. There is a bill before Parliament which details, in jargon that defeats me, the changes to the structures for commissioning. It lays out the way the system […]
Martin McShane: Where has all the money gone?
I am lucky because I work with a Director of Finance who likes to make things clear and easy to understand. Last week he went through what is happening to the money for 2011/12. He wanted to help my team, well all of us really, understand where the money has gone. […]
Martin McShane: Enthusiasm, cynicism, pragmatism and Pathfinders.
In Lincolnshire, we had 3 Pathfinder consortia announced in the second wave. This is good news. At least, we think it is. We are, however, not sure what being a “Pathfinder” means. It would appear to mean that GPs are enthusiastic about the reforms and taking up the challenge. Is that true? […]
Martin McShane: Take me to your leader
There are a number of variants on the cartoon about an alien asking someone or something to “take me to your leader.” Of course we all laugh because we can see the alien doesn’t realise they are approaching the wrong person or thing. Now, there is a new version being played out between PCTs and […]
Martin McShane: Transition and the operating framework
I have a weekly teleconference with GPs from our emergent consortia. We set this up a while back to try and keep up with events, nix rumours and misconceptions and, collectively, try and make sense of what is going on. Over the last few weeks a lot of work has gone into developing a draft […]
Martin McShane on tools and workshops
This is one of the busiest times of the year for the PCT. We have a tight timetable to assemble a plan and start contract negotiations. Soon we will be given an operating framework. We are given a lot of central direction and this year part of that is called QIPP; we have to have […]
Martin McShane: Gentlemen or players (and fish farms)
The concerns expressed by the new chair of the RCGP about the difficulties which GPs might face, in taking on commissioning, are pertinent. There is always a tension between being the advocate for the patient in front of you and for the population behind them. It does seem odd that PCTs have been exhorted to divorce […]
Martin McShane: Climate change
The King’s Fund paper “How cold will it be?” published in July 2009, discussed three financial scenarios for the NHS. The toughest was a 2% reduction in funding for 3 consecutive years. Of course that hasn’t happened, has it? The comprehensive spending review protected the NHS with a 0.1% increase, an option described in the […]
Martin McShane: Transition
We did something a bit different today as an executive team. We used the “goldfish bowl” technique to explore how to support the transition from PCT-led to Consortia-based commissioning. I apologise if you already know what this technique entails. For those of you who don’t; we put four chairs in the middle of a circle […]