Services we commission 

Your services / Commissioning / Services we commission

NHS Bolton’s most significant role is to commission health services. 

 

Commissioning is not just purchasing services. It involves working closely with public health services to assess present and future health needs, planning to make sure there is enough capacity and choice of services, and setting up contracts and service agreements with a very wide range of providers of care and treatment.

 

We are developing further information about commissioned services on this site, but you can already view pages on:

 

Cancer services

Continuing NHS care

Mental health services

Services for children and young people

 

NHS Bolton commissions services from NHS trusts, particularly the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust; from independent sector providers,such as private hospitals and care homes; and from voluntary sector bodies, for example those that provide some community mental health support.

 

When NHS Bolton commissions NHS services from private sector providers, these services are still completely free to NHS patients.

 

Some services are commissioned jointly with Bolton Council. Specialised services, which might be used only by small numbers of Bolton people, are commissioned in partnership with other NHS bodies within Greater Manchester or across the whole of the north west.

 

As well as conventional hospital or community services, we commission innovative services which help speed up the route from GP referral to hospital care.

 

Known as Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services (CATS) these may be provided by NHS or private sector organisations. They deliver the tests, scans and checks that are needed, in a co-ordinated way, to make sure no-one waits longer than necessary for treatment. 

 

The range of services and providers is huge and growing, but wherever possible patients will be offered a choice of different providers. 

 

For many standard types of in-patient hospital care, you can now ask to be treated at hospitals throughout England, and your request will be met if it is practical.