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Hertsmere Commissioning Projects
About Us
Background
HCL or Hertsmere Commissioning Ltd was formally established in September 2007, although as a group we have been meeting regularly together since December 2005.
We all have one main focus and that is to monitor and deliver the best possible medical care for all of our patients.
In 2005, the Government announced that it wished to see the commissioning of medical care devolved to smaller areas or so called practice based clusters.
The practices that used to be part of the old Hertsmere PCT all agreed to meet and eventually we found that 8 practices all had a shared vision of how we would like to operate and commission medical services.
There are 7 Hertsmere practices that are full members of the group and these are:
We serve a practice population of approximately 69,606 (as at April 2009).
We meet regularly at the monthly Board meeting held at Allum Lane Community Centre. This meeting is usually held on the first Wednesday of the month.
Management
The Board members include GPs and Practice Managers from the 7 member practices. NHS Hertfordshire is also represented at the meetings. Harsha Patel is NHS Hertfordshire's Pharmaceutical Adviser and our patient representatives are Robert Hillyard and Harvey Ward.
In addition, the group has a working Executive who also meet formally once a month. The Executive is responsible for advising the HCL Board about strategy and liaising with NHS Hertfordshire about commissioning decisions and how we spend our budget. The Executive also discuss the minutes of all the sub-groups and help to prioritise these, so that the HCL Board are aware of any new proposals or changes to our services.
The day to day running of the group is facilitated by our Director of Administration, Chris Procter
The Chair, Nicolas Small (Vice Chair vacancy at present) attends meetings arranged by NHS Hertfordshire, Hertsmere Council and HCL, as well as co-ordinating the work undertaken by our project or sub groups. Jayne Taylor is now working with HCL as Performance Management Director.
In addition to the NHS Hertfordshire management support available to HCL, we also employ our Strategic Adviser Margaret Stockham to advise us about commissioning opportunities and share good practice in other areas of the country. Margaret’s input increases our awareness of changes in Government policies and helps us become innovative commissioners. An example of this is that HCL were awarded a Department of Health SPA (Single Point of Access) project in November 2007, to look at how we can better help people access emergency medical care through a single contact point.