Following the publication of her paper, "Evaluation of clinical threshold policies for cataract surgery among English commissioners", in the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, Sophie Coronini-Cronberg (Honorary Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London) has been invited by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists to join its working group responsible for developing cataract surgery commissioning guidance. The work is due to be completed by the end of this year.
NHS budgets are under considerable pressure. It is therefore unsurprising that many NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) In England will aim to prioritise price in contract awards, But this approach is a significant threat to community-centred healthcare. While competitive tendering is a legally required, an excessive focus on costs in awarding NHS contracts risks overshadowing key factors such as established community trust, local expertise, and the long-term impact on continuity of care. This shift towards cheaper, often external, commercial providers threatens to cut the links between communities and their local health services. The argument that competitive tendering is solely about legal compliance, and not cost, is undermined by the very nature of such tendering, which by design encourages the lowest bid. This approach risks eroding the social fabric of local healthcare provision, where established relationships and understanding of specific community needs are essential. Establishe...
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