World Class Commissioning - 23 / 07 / 10

NHS Walsall Praised for Progress on Improving Health Care for Local People

NHS Walsall has been praised for its ‘passion and commitment’ to improving the health of local people.

The organisation, which is responsible for planning and buying health care for people across the borough, saw a significant improvement in every major performance category in its latest independent assessment.

Chief Executive Denise McLellan said the improved performance was a tribute to the hard work and dedication of staff at all levels.

NHS Walsall’s performance was subject to rigorous scrutiny in a range of key areas set out in the World Class Commissioning (WCC) guidelines, covering the organisation’s ability to lead the local NHS, work with partner organisations, patients and the public, identify local needs and priorities and ensure that health services are high quality and value for money.

And results of the latest round of scrutiny by external assessors shows an across the board improvement in performance.

Denise McLellan welcomed the report, saying: “This is welcome recognition of the hard work and dedication of our staff who strive to plan, develop and deliver the best possible health care for our local population.

“We are not complacent and we know there is always room for improvement, but this latest report shows that we are moving in the right direction.

“There are also a number of useful pointers which will help us to focus our efforts in future – and these are especially valuable given the significant financial challenges that all NHS organisations face.

“With government policy moving towards a transfer of the commissioning role to GPs, we have to rise to the challenge of maintaining this good progress during the transfer period as well as working even more closely with local GPs, sharing our commissioning knowledge and experience with them.”

To see the full report CLICK HERE