NHS steering group on co-commissioning with the voluntary sector

Sir Stephen Bubb, Chief Executive of Acevo, has been appointed to chair an NHS steering group that will look at co-commissioning with the voluntary sector after the target for relocating Winterbourne View patients was missed.

The panel of experts will develop a national guide for providing health and social care to those with learning difficulties. It aims to design a more integrated approach to local commissioning for healthcare and housing to support people in their homes and communities and reduce the reliance on hospital care.

The panel is part of the wider Winterbourne View Joint Improvement Programme, which was launched following the Winterbourne View scandal in 2011 that was exposed by abuses of patients at the private hospital. The original target of the programme was to relocate patients by June.

Representatives from healthcare organisations, charities and people with learning disabilities and their families will be involved in the group, which will produce a report by the end of October 2014 which will inform the refresh of the Everyone Counts commissioning guidance.