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Commercial Health

STPs: a four part guide

Published 24 febrero 2017

Across 44 geographical areas in England, local NHS organisations and Councils have formed partnerships, STPs, that are designed to reduce pressure on the current health and social care system and help meet the ambitions and challenges set out in The NHS Five Year Forward View.

STPs are not a new model of care, but many include details of the planned development of new models of care within the STP footprint. However, for these plans to be successful, commissioners and providers will need to ensure that appropriate governance arrangements are in place for those stakeholders in an STP to make recommendations or decisions, and co-ordinate matters such as involvement and consultation on service changes.

With no new legislation underpinning STPs, there is a need for clarity and guidance in how best to manage their implementation and the risks associated.

We have prepared a four part guide on STPs, focussing on (i) contracting for collaboration, (ii) involvement and consultation, (iii) governance and (iv) information sharing.

Contracting for Collaboration	Governance and Relationships

Collaboration means many different things to different people in the NHS. In our view, the importance of defining your collaboration goes to the heart of its success. Agreeing your aims, knowing what is expected of you and those that you are collaborating with to achieve those aims, is a pre-requisite to achieving your goals.	Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) were always likely to attract significant attention and even controversy; designed as they are to look afresh at service provision, organisational structures and partnerships within each area. Most STPs highlight the need for significant changes to services (including in some cases the ever-emotive accident and emergency and maternity services).
Information	Consultation and Involvement

At the heart of collaboration between organisations is the sharing of information. This may be performance related information shared by commissioners who are collaborating to commission services in an STP footprint, or the sharing of patient data between acute, community services, primary care and social services providers, to ensure a patient-centred service.	Consultations on changes to health and social care are often approached with great trepidation. Common questions range from; are we required to consult if there are no realistic alternatives? How upfront do we need to be about the need to reduce spending? Won’t patients just oppose every reconfiguration?

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Authors

Hamza Drabu

London - Walbrook

+44 (0)20 7894 6411

hdrabu@dacbeachcroft.com

Key Contacts

Charlotte Burnett

Leeds

+44 (0)113 251 4785

ckburnett@dacbeachcroft.com

Louise Watson-Jones

Newcastle

+44 (0)191 404 4093

lwatsonjones@dacbeachcroft.com

Anne Crofts

London - Walbrook

+44 (0)20 7894 6531

acrofts@dacbeachcroft.com

Alistair Robertson

London - Walbrook

+44 (0)20 7894 6020

arobertson@dacbeachcroft.com

Contracting for collaboration and efficiency

By Charlotte Burnett

Collaboration means many different things to different people in the NHS. In our view, the importance of defining your collaboration goes to the heart of its success…