Strategic Commissioning

What is commissioning?

Commissioning is the process of understanding what services the people within a local area need. Commissioners determine how to use the available resources to improve outcomes in the most efficient, effective, and sustainable way.

The Commissioner’s aim is to design, develop, and implement services that address the care and support needs and wishes in Harrow. Commissioners inform how to best meet identified needs in line with statutory duties, set out by The Care Act 2014. There is also duty to work within available resources to deliver appropriate, sustainable services to improve individual outcomes.

The Care Act 2014 placed a legal duty on Local Authorities to undertake effective commissioning and maintain market sustainability. This is to ensure a diverse and sustainable supply of care and support services meet the needs of Harrow citizens.

The Commissioning Team

The People Services Strategic Commissioning Team designs and arranges access to quality cost-effective care and support services. We do this by working in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders and partners. These include:

  • Health: North West London Integrated Care System and Integrated Care Partnership (ICP)
  • West London Alliance (WLA)
  • Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)
  • private providers
  • internal teams (Public Health, Housing)
  • residents.

We work collaboratively to bring together expert knowledge, good practice research, evidence-based approaches, and resources. We work in response to identified service gaps, changing demand and opportunities for change and consider best practice.

Our aims and objectives are to

  • shape good quality services
  • develop our co-production approach
  • meet the needs of local people
  • reduce inequalities
  • provide the best local care with the use of assistive technology
  • engage with the community and people with lived experience
  • develop Strength Based approach which is outcome focussed
  • develop, stimulate, and encourage new entrants to the market
  • work in collaboration with all partners and promote integrated services where appropriate

Commissioning intentions

A key objective of Harrow’s Strategic Commissioning team is to maintain support for as long as possible for:

  • children
  • young people
  • and adults in their local community.

They provide support for them in their own home.

Harrow’s strategic commissioning is a way of helping to create a change in approach. We ensure that children, young people, and adults receive the right support at the right time. We want to enable all residents to achieve maximum independence, choice, and control. This includes providing good information, early intervention, enablement or reablement and preventative services.

We take a strategic approach for integrated care and support. This allows us to plan with a range of partners and ensure we provide the right kind of help.

Harrow’s Strategic Commissioning team aim to develop and procure strength-based interventions as early as possible. This is to support people and enable them to learn new skills, maintain or regain their independence. We also aim to support other caring arrangements by supporting families and unpaid carers.

We work closely with many partners as part of Harrow Place Based Partnership. This enables us to deliver on our vision and intentions.

We need to ensure that we deliver good, cost-effective services. We continue to improve services by listening to feedback from residents. This ensures that they remain at the centre of what we do.

Working with providers

We work with providers in the following ways:

  • Commissioners work with providers to stimulate service development and sustainability
  • Regular Provider Engagement Forums are held with our different provider groups to facilitate an ongoing dialogue. This includes Harrow Council, partners in Health including ICB and Public Health, and our providers. Information, support, and issues are shared here as well as an opportunity for providers to network with peers.
  • Safeguarding Team
  • Procurement
  • Quality Assurance and Contracts Teams
  • Finance and Legal Teams

Market Position Statement (MPS)

Our MPS provides information about the current market demand and supply in Harrow, future demand, and our commissioning intentions. The MPS is a dynamic document which will be updated frequently and aims to help our current and potential providers to develop their services: Download the MPS here