The 2011 UKNSCC conference heard about the arrangements that eight PCTs in West Midlands had put in place to commission stop smoking services from a wide range of suppliers using ‘payment by results’ contracts.
Under these arrangements, contracted suppliers are free to recruit and deliver stop smoking services to eligible participants and to claim a payment from a PCT and a standard rate (a tariff) if they succeed in supporting an individual to stop smoking for 4 and 12 weeks. Higher tariffs are available to suppliers working with certain defined targeted populations. There is no limit to the number of suppliers and the contracts contain no activity caps.
The primary objective of the project is to increase the supply of stop smoking services.
A formal, independent evaluation of the project has now been completed.
The presentation will
• set out the commissioning arrangements that were adopted
• report the results of the evaluation
• consider the challenges for commissioning stop smoking services using ‘payment by results’ mechanisms after public health budgets are transferred to Local Authorities in April 2013
• identify best practice in evaluating payment by results schemes and in combining process and impact evaluations
Source of funding: NHS Stoke-on-Trent, NHS South Staffordshire, NHS Shropshire County PCT, NHS Telford & Wrekin, NHS Walsall, NHS Sandwell, NHS Coventry, NHS Worcestershire & NHS West Midlands.
