The contract supports the NHS Operating Framework for 20010-2011 and should be read in conjunction with the Principles and Rules for Co-operation and Competition and the PCT Procurement Guide. It cover’s agreements between PCTs and all types of provider delivering NHS funded services.
- Each of the 2010/2011 Standard Contracts has undergone significant development to ensure they are fit to address the productivity and quality challenges the NHS faces.
- The Community Services Contract has been restructured to make the contract more user-friendly and provide a more logical flow. There is also a much stronger focus on achieving service transformation and quality improvement. A separate contract for Care Homes is under development for publication the summer of 2010.
- The interim one-year Mental Health and Learning Disability contract, issued last year, has been replaced by a 3 year contract and at the same time the order of the schedules has been changed to improve the flow through the document.
- During 2010/2011, it is planned to commence a full review of the contracts starting with the acute contract. The aim of the review will be to provide documents that are able to reflect the potential developments in the provider and commissioner environment. In addition, we will be developing a new contract for 2011/12 for use by vertically integrated organisations providing community and hospital services.
- In terms of content, the key changes for the contracts for 2010/11 include:
- a heightened focus on quality, with a significant extension to the use of financial penalties for failure to meet key aspects of service quality
- non-payment for breaches associated with Nationally Specified Events (including Never Events listed in the Operating Framework) with an option to introduce penalties for some never events from October 2010,
- CQUIN,
- the introduction of marginal rates of payment for excess emergency activity for acute services.
- There have been significant redrafting changes across all the contracts in particular to:
- the clauses relating to the management of the contract, Review (8), Clinical/Service Quality (33) and Performance Management (32)
- the Variations Clause (38) has been adjusted with the introduction of a 3 month notice period for National Variations and a 3 or 6 month notice period for variations in Service.
- The contract continues to reflect the principles agreed with stakeholders in previous years and it is even more important for commissioners and providers to work together to meet the challenges set out in the 2010/2011 Operating Framework.
- The existing commitments and Vital Signs along with CQUIN and Commissioning and Productivity Challenge are all reflected throughout the suite of contracts.
To download the contract visit the Department of Health’s website