Chris Ham: Supporting CCGs to commission integrated care

In this interview, Professor Chris Ham, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund talks to Elizabeth Eastmure of the Nuffield Trust, about the findings of a research project led by Professor Ham and Nuffield Trust Head of Policy Dr Judith Smith, to examine the role of commissioners in promoting the development of more integrated care.

Professor Ham considers how clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) can be encouraged to innovate, and emphasises the role of the NHS Commissioning Board and Monitor in supporting these groups to take forward more integrated models of care and create more choice and competition where it is appropriate.

He moves on to consider the work that is required around pricing to allow for the development of more integrated care, as the current system of Payment by Results (PbR) is not designed for that purpose, and reflects on the perceived tensions between integrated care and both competition policy and the introduction of greater choice.

Professor Ham presented at the Nuffield Trust event: Incentivising integrated care: what role for commissioners? in September 2011. The full findings of the research study have been published in the report: Commissioning integrated care in a liberated NHS (Nuffield Trust, Sep 2011) by Chris Ham, Judith Smith, and Elizabeth Eastmure.