News / WCC results reflect ‘board grip’ on PCTs’ performance

The Department of Health’s director of commissioning, Mark Britnell (pictured above), has hailed PCTs’ world class commissioning (WCC) governance scores as ‘better than expected’ and called on PCT boards to build on this performance to deliver more rapid improvements.

Mr Britnell addressed the HFMA West Midlands Branch conference in Birmingham last month. Following PCTs’ release of their WCC scores locally, Mr Britnell gave an overview of the results.

In terms of the governance assessment, 71 PCTs were awarded a green rating for board, 61 for finance and 45 on strategy.

Amber ratings were given to 78 PCTs (board and finance) and 90 PCTs (strategy). Across the three governance areas, there were a total of 33 red assessments (see figure)

Mr Britnell praised the results. ‘They are better scores than we expected,’ he said. He told the audience of more than 500 finance managers that the scores showed a readiness for improvement.

‘If the board grip is good, there is no reason why we can’t move forward very quickly with pace, passion and purpose,’ he said.

In terms of commissioning competencies, PCTs had performed strongest on competency two – working with community partners. The biggest weaknesses were found in competency seven – stimulating the market.

However, he hinted at changes in assessing financial competence. In the first year of WCC there was no separate assessment for the financial competency – making sound investments. Instead, the financial competency was assessed within the governance section of the assurance framework.

Mr Britnell told the conference that ‘competency 11 had been deliberately withheld this year’, but he hinted that there could be a more detailed definition of the financial competencies needed to underpin WCC.

Managers contacted by Healthcare Finance suggested this could involve greater scrutiny of five-year plans.

In March the Department also announced plans to review the financial template used to collect information for the WCC assessment ‘with the aim for the system to be ready for the next iteration to start in September’.

Mr Britnell also called on finance directors to ensure their organisations were ready for a slowdown in NHS growth, expected in the next comprehensive spending review covering 2011 onwards.

‘It is your duty to educate your boards,’ he said, adding that the HFMA also had a role in ensuring that the message was well understood. ‘We need to put on our saving heads.’