PCT managers have ‘no automatic right’ to GP commissioning
pharmafile | September 8, 2010 | News story | | GP, NHS, commissioning, government
Primary care trust managers should not have a legal right to transfer to similar roles in GP commissioning groups, according to a survey by NHS Networks.
The online NHS networking site questioned 257 primary care trust and strategic health authority mangers, GPs and PBC group managers.
Just over half (53%) were against exiting NHS managers being given an automatic right to jobs in the new system whilst 41% were in favour and the rest undecided.
The survey is based around the coalition government’s health reform programme, which plans to remove NHS managers and put the majority of the NHS budget into the hands of GP consortia.
GPs and consortia managers are overwhelmingly against the idea of inheriting PCT managers en masse, with 78% of those surveyed saying no to the proposition.
In what is perhaps a surprising result, more than a third of PCT and SHA staff (37%) rejected the idea of an automatic right to a job in GP consortia.
While some GPs questioned the quality of PCT managers, most would consider employing them in new roles so long as they have the ability to make appointments on merit.
In a separate survey, however, more than 90% of GPs agreed with the proposition that “good” managers would get jobs in the emerging commissioning consortia. Only 60% of PCT managers showed the same degree of optimism.
Some PCT managers believe that the transfer of undertakings (TUPE) or similar arrangements will give them a legal right to move to similar posts, but human resources experts said this was an “unresolved issue” that would depend on which statutory functions now performed by PCTs transfer to GP commissioning consortia.
NHS Employers reported that a human resources framework is being developed, but adds that “no definitive answer” can be given about whether TUPE will apply to transfers to GP consortia until the work is complete.
One respondent corroborated this by saying: “We need the skills in PCTs if we are to take responsibility for the whole commissioning cycle. We also need the organisational memory, particularly around procurement and contracts. It is essential that these skills are transferred into consortia.”
Julian Patterson, development director of NHS Networks, said: “There is a fear of reinventing the same old institutions, but the emerging GP consortia have the opportunity to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“It stands to reason that the best managers, who have already formed good working relationships with GPs and continue to work with them through the transition, will have the best job prospects.”
NHS Networks is a free resource, set up in 2005 to help develop networking within the health service.
Ben Adams
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