Towards World Class Commissioning Competency

Towards World Class Commissioning Competency is a report produced for West Midlands Strategic Health Authority by the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham.

This paper is intended to assist the thinking of those currently seeking answers to questions, such as: What are health care commissioners required to do? What knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours are required to do it well? Who (either within or beyond the NHS) is most likely to possess these attributes at the moment? How should these capabilities be developed and distributed in future?

The paper concludes that a one-size-fits-all approach to defining and developing commissioning competency is unlikely to be optimal, and reiterates that competency depends not just on knowledge and skills, but on values, motivation, and agency. This is an important message for those involved in commissioning at all levels of the system.

(Published December 2007, 24 pages)