The Specialised Healthcare Alliance (SHCA) is a broad coalition of patient groups supported by a smaller number of corporate members. Our Chair is Baroness Jolly.
We were established in 2003 to campaign on behalf of people with rare diseases and other complex conditions which require specialised medical care. These conditions tend to be expensive to treat. Examples are numerous but include certain cancers, cystic fibrosis, haemophilia, neurological conditions and a wide range of services for children. Accidents or complications of more common conditions can also trigger the need for specialised services such as burns, pain management and spinal injuries.
In the years since its formation, the Alliance has played a significant part in transforming the landscape for specialised services, particularly through the Carter Report of 2006. As a result, responsibility for commissioning became largely vested in ten regional Specialised Commissioning Groups, paving the way for skills and expertise to be concentrated to the benefit of patients and their families.
The coalition government’s proposed reforms for the NHS provide new opportunities to improve specialised commissioning. In particular, placing the commissioning of specialised services with the NHS Commissioning Board should lead to more robust funding arrangements for specialised services and more consistent provision across the country.
Cumulatively, specialised services are important to a very large number of people and anyone could need to access such services at some point. We therefore believe the standard and availability of specialised services is fundamental to a properly functioning National Health Service and a key criterion by which the NHS should be judged.
© Specialised Healthcare Alliance