Publication: Health board commissioning: contracts and contracting - Bulletin 2

In 1996/97 health boards and trusts in Scotland planned and delivered £2.8 billion worth of NHS services by means of contracts. This study has identified a number of problems which, must be addressed. These include: unproductive negotiations; the need to contract separately with an increasing number of purchasers and providers, especially individual GP fundholders; imprecise plans, and a serious lack of evaluation. These factors add to the bureaucracy and inefficiency of the current system. The Commission says that regardless of what system replaces contracting when the NHS internal market is abolished these problems will need to be resolved.