NHS ‘all but met’ PBC target

The Department of Health has announced that its target of introducing practice-based commissioning (PBC) throughout the NHS by the end of 2006 was “all but met” with a month to spare.

Data for November revealed that 95 per cent of primary care trusts now have plans in place for universal implementation of PBC, with 144 of the 152 trusts having achieved universal coverage.

Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) in the north east, south central, Yorkshire, the Humber, London and south east coast have reached this goal, while the remaining five SHAs anticipate reaching this target by the end of the month.

Lord Warner, health minister, said: “All the latest indications are that the NHS is set to achieve our goal for universal coverage of practice based commissioning by the end of the year.

“This is great news for NHS patients as [PBC] will lead to higher quality services provided in more convenient locations.”

He added that he was especially satisfied to observe this change in care as set out in his white paper on healthcare reform.

The Department of Health states that PBC will enable the provision of resources and support to clinicians to better involve them in commissioning decisions.