Help-out-Hearing Ltd Assuring high quality hearing care e

Where do you think Choice from AQP will be in a year’s time? By this time next year, I think that 5% ? 25% ? 50% ? of patients in England will be able to choose their NHS hearing care from any qualified provider.

How do you feel today about participating in AQP? I am basically positive towards becoming an NHS-qualified provider I am basically negative towards becoming an NHS-qualified provider

Patients to get choice for their NHS hearing care What you need to know; What you need to do; so that you can make your own choice; about getting ready to do business with the NHS; If you want patients to be exercising their NHS choice in favour of your practice

2010: new Government announces new plans for NHS Patients to get choice and control; “No care for me, without me” Doctors to decide how the money is spent; local commissioning through Clinical Commissioning Groups NHS efficiency to be transformed; quality to be driven up Opened up to market innovation through qualified providers, competing on quality (not price) Any Qualified Provider is one way of giving Patients choice

BSHAA says “Great!” People needing hearing assistance, should be able to access their NHS-funded care from any NHS-qualifying provider – where they want, when they want, from whom they want. If people are given real, informed choice, they will accept more responsibility for their own care and be more likely to wear their hearing aids, so increasing the cost effectiveness of NHS-funded essential hearing care. Like other primary care, NHS-funded Adult Hearing Services should be available from as wide a range of convenient local centres as possible, from any qualifying provider on a national list who delivers to clear quality standards, service specification, outcomes and access criteria, within the national tariff. BSHAA believes that NHS patients should be able to choose from any qualifying provider, irrespective of their business model.

2011 Government extends patient choice of provider PCT Clusters to identify 3 priorities for giving patients choice of any qualified provider, and implement them by Sept 2012; Now? More than half the PCTs in England will commission Adult Hearing Services from AQP Teesside PCT to have developed the national implementation pack of service spec, contract framework and tariff; Now? Tees commissioning of AHS launched on supply2health in Feb April? 44 PCTs will launch AHS June? 45 PCTs will launch AHS

2011 Government extends patient choice of provider (2) Department of Health to established a national AQP qualification process, across all services, to minimise bureaucracy and reduce transaction costs for providers and commissioners; Now? AQP qualification process and national contract on AQP Resource Centre; PCTs “strongly encouraged” to use the Tees spec, and to require IQIPS accreditation as a pre-condition for AQP qualification

IQIPS??? Independently awarded kitemark of hearing service quality External accreditation by expert assessors, involving the profession 4 domains for quality: 1 audiology-specific clinical; 3 generic - patient experience, safety and organisational Find out more, and register interest at www.rcplondon/projects/iqips Want to know whether your company is ready for IQIPS? Pay £500 and use the self-assessment tool coming shortly PCTs advertising in April/June will require AQP applicants to self assess by end June/December, and be accredited by end December/March 2013 What will it cost? For a small practice £2100 +VAT per annum over 4 year cycle of accreditation. For companies fees are to be individually set, based on size and control Is quality accreditation only applicable to adult hearing services for NHS patients? Yes in the short-term, but could it become a differentiator for private clients too?

BSHAA says “Great…BUT” Any dispensing company, irrespective of size, should be able to become an NHS-qualifying provider if they are prepared to work to appropriate quality standards; We welcome the opportunity to compete on quality; BUT the barriers and costs of entry for small practices are a real concern. “Any qualified provider on a national list” BUT not at this stage, as providers will have to qualify each time for each commissioner’s contract. We welcomed the government’s assurance that there will not be competition on price; BUT with no nationally agreed tariff and local PCTs able to impose reductions, it could be challenging to deliver the quality required for the price on offer. “GPs in the driving seat…”; BUT GPs are a barrier to hearing care; Choose and Book uptake is only 50% and systems are costly; hearing is not a priority; BUT BUT, giving patients direct access offers reduction in GP bureaucracy.

Does this affect me? Each and every BSHAA member in England Wherever you practice; whether employed or independent; whoever you work for Because the core elements of AQP licensing will be your HPC license to practice and the clinical practice standards in IQIPS; and you will have to deliver the 18 quality requirements in the AQP specification. Because, by September, patients in half the country will be able to exercise choice from a range of local providers. Because, once given choice, whether it takes 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, the genie can never be put back in the bottle! Because giving patients a choice from all our diverse sector of large and small dispensing companies is the best and quickest way to achieving our goal for Hearing – the fifth Primary Care Service

You will have to prove yourself To the patients who have exercised a choice in coming to you; would they recommend you? To the GPs whose patients have chosen you; do they trust you as a fellow clinician? To PCT/CCGs who have commissioned you, and who pay you; are you providing a quality service? To the AQP licensing authorities and IQIPS assessors; are you a quality provider? Do you know when AQP is coming your way? Are you ready to make an informed choice if and when to participate?

BSHAA has much to do Help ensure a successful pilot stage in 2012/13; leading to our sector demonstrating that we have the capability and capacity to reliably deliver consistent quality AHS to patients who choose to be referred to us, wherever they are in the country; Help establish AQP qualification and IQIPS accreditation processes, through which any hearing care company (of whatever size/business model), which wants to, can viably and cost-effectively gain an AQP license; Seek as much standard practice for commissioning choice from AQP, which has the potential to become the building blocks for hearing care as the 5th national primary care service; this includes working towards a national tariff; Support members in their companies to gain AQP, and to get on local choice contracts

BSHAA has much to do (2) Resource pack “How to meet IQIPS and AQP quality requirements” available at Congress (exclusively to members “ How to become a provider of choice for NHS patients in my area”, local workshops – if you want them! What else? Please tell us!

How do you feel now about participating in AQP? I am basically positive towards becoming an NHS-qualified provider I am basically negative towards becoming an NHS-qualified provider

Qualified Hearing Care Provider Help-out-Hearing Ltd welcomes NHS patients to our Malvern hearing centre Assuring high quality hearing care e entre