Commissioning
Can Come to the Rescue
Public Servant, October 2009
By Richard Selwyn of PIPC
It’s time to scrap spurious targets and take
a whole-system view of people’s needs and available
resources, says Richard Selwyn
The government is poised for a revolution in the way
public services are planned and managed. Commissioning
is the way of delivering better services, and can continue
to improve them against the backdrop of spending cuts.
The commissioning approach is the Carpathia steaming
to the government’s impending Titanic. The only
worry is that it will not arrive quickly enough.
Public services have been making steady progress during
the past 10 to 20 years and this has led to a strong
expectation of continual improvement. The trouble is
that improvements have often been thanks to additional
finding rather than the fundamental effectiveness of
services. Increases in funding have led to a degree
of lazy management and government leadership that shies
away from tackling the big problems in society or the
inefficiencies in our services. This cannot continue.
The government must now make large savings while maintaining
service quality and outcomes we can’t just tweak
services but have to transform tem. Commissioning is
a model for doing this. It is about taking a whole-system
view of the needs of the population and available resources,
then finding much better ways of delivering outcomes
by moving away from outdated service models. The commissioning
revolution is driven by transformation through a better
understanding of the complex public sector system, new
ways of designing services around the population (such
as patient choice), innovation and entrepreneurship,
and a fresh ethos that embraces partnership working
and joint leadership.
Positive examples are now emerging where commissioners
have redesigned services, cut spending and still improved
individuals’ outcomes.
Commissioning sounds like it’s coming to the
rescue – but why is it taking so long? The truth
is that government is beset with traditional approaches
that are barriers to new ways of working. Old structures,
targets and initiatives are preventing transformation.
There is now overwhelming evidence that targets deliver
just the statistic, not the improvement to lives or
services efficiencies that were first desired.
A comparison of management approaches in the private
and public sectors is star. Which FTSE100 Company is
run through micro-management and ring-fenced funding
attached to the latest untested headline-grabbing idea?
Excess funding can no longer cover up mismanagement.
It’s time for change and we are starting to see
visionary public servants who understand what is needed
and, given half a chance, have embraced commissioning
and are delivering more for less. We now need this good
practice to be reflected across the whole system.
The government must use future spending cuts to change
the way we run public services, to move away from initiatives,
command-and-control leadership, micro-management, spurious
targets and headlines. It must drive the commissioning
approach and redesign service system.
Richard Selwyn, government and public sector,
PIPC UK, is a member of the cross government commissioning
Learning and Development Group
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