The Department of Health and Social Care has been told to develop plans to in-house services currently supplied by external contractors, HSJ reports.
The plan will apply to both the department and its “agencies”, which include the Care Quality Commission, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the NHS Business Services Authority, among others.
The new Cabinet Office guidance refers to “insourcing”, service facilities supplied by external contractors in periods when staff are not working or are otherwise unavailable. However, the new policy is concerned with what the NHS typically refers to as “in-housing”, in which services are supplied by directly employed staff.
The guidance declares: “Insourcing can be a crucial mechanism for enhancing value, control, and resilience. This policy [enables]… decision-makers to look beyond short-term pricing, to holistically assess long-term value for money, service quality, and broader economic and social goals when making sourcing decisions.”
Date: 25 June