Management and relationships in total purchasing pilots: Relevance for primary care groups

Primary Care Groups (PCGs) represent a natural evolution of the various models – total purchasing, multifunds and locality commissioning – embraced by the term “primary care commissioning”. They will involve large numbers of different professionals working together to commission improved health care for their populations. The total purchasing pilots (TPPs) were the subjects of an extensive evaluation which has highlighted the significance of developing and improving relationships between the key players as a prerequisite for the successful implementation of their strategy. Management arrangements were central to this success. Similar considerations will be of crucial importance for the PCGs which are considerably larger and more complex organisations than the TPPs.