NHS London hosts several other organisations in our Victoria Street offices. This has the benefit of allowing us to work closely with staff from these organisations, encouraging information sharing on relevant health issues.

Our partner organisations are:

• London Health Programmes

Our hosted organisations include:

• London Health Observatory
• National Specialised Commissioning Team
• National Ambulance Radio Project (NARP)

The National Specialised Commissioning Team has three groups:

1. Advisory Group for National Specialised Services
2. National Specialised Commissioning Group
3. UK Genetics Testing Network

London Health Observatory

The London Health Observatory (LHO) is one of 12 public health observatories across the UK and Ireland that form the Association of Public Health Observatories.

The LHO produces information, data and intelligence on the health and health care of the 7.8 million people who live in London. They provide up-to-date information for health practitioners, policy-makers and researchers to assist with commissioning and policy decisions. LHO also run training programmes in health intelligence training and capacity-building programmes for health practitioners.

For more information about the work of LHO visit www.lho.org.uk or contact them on 020 7932 3961.

London Health Programmes (LHP)

London Health Programmes (LHP) are a series of NHS initiatives run on behalf of London's NHS commissioners to improve the capital's health and health services. They cover health specialities which require pan-London planning and delivery in order to improve the outcomes, quality and efficiency of services.

LHP also provides a range of health intelligence services to model future patient activity across London, giving GPs and the rest of the NHS the information needed to improve value for money in frontline service, drive up standards of care, invest in prevention and treat patients closer to home.

The work of London Health Programmes evolved from the work of the Healthcare for London programme and NHS Commissioning Support for London (CSL), both of which have now been discontinued.

For more information please see www.londonhp.nhs.uk

National Specialised Commissioning Team

Based at Southside, National Specialised Commissioning (NSC) Team is a multi-disciplinary team comprising of medical, commissioning, financial, informatics, administration and policy expertise and is hosted by NHS London, which is the Strategic Health Authority for the London region.

NSC Team is responsible for commissioning about 60 highly specialised services nationally and also supports the work of the following groups:

• The National Specialised Commissioning Group (NSCG)
• The Advisory Group for National Specialised Services (AGNSS)
• Specialised Commissioning Groups – (SCGs)

Commissioning in the NHS is the process of ensuing that health services meet the needs of the population. It is a complex process that includes: assessing the needs of the population; procuring health care services; and ensuing that these services are safe, effective, patient-centred and of high quality.

Although most services in the NHS are commissioned by about 150 local Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), there are different arrangements for commissioning specialised services. A specialised service is defined in legislation as a service covering a planning population (catchment area) of more than a million people. Each PCT contributes some of its budget to funding specialised services.

For more information on NHS Specialised Services, please visit www.specialisedservices.nhs.uk

Advisory Group for National Specialised Services

About 60 highly specialised services are commissioned nationally by the National Specialised Commissioning (NSC) Team. Examples of such services include heart transplantation (about 270 transplants per year) and secure forensic mental health services for young people (about 80 new patients each year).

Given the small number of patients or procedures involved and the high level of clinical expertise required to provide such treatments, most nationally commissioned services are provided in a small number of centres, usually no more than three or four. These centres of excellence are designated to provide national services. In order to ensure continued levels of excellence, the NSC Team undertakes a renewal of designation process on each service, usually every five years.

The Advisory Group for National Specialised Services (AGNSS) was established following the consultation Strengthening National Commissioning. Its role is to advise ministers on:

• Highly specialised services, products and health technologies that should be, or should no longer be, nationally commissioned;
• Centres that's should be designated as providers for nationally specialised commissioned services and whether to renew or withdraw the designation at the appropriate time; and
• Annual budget for new and existing nationally commissioned specialised services and the contribution required from PCTs.

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National Specialised Commissioning Group

In England, the 10 Specialised Commissioning Groups (SCGs) commission specialised services for their regional populations, which range in size from 2.8 million people to 7.5 million people.

The role of the National Specialised Commissioning Group (NSCG) is to:

• Provide oversight and co-ordination of commissioning undertaken by SCGs where the specialised service has a catchment/planning population which is bigger than that of a single SCG;
• Make decisions about supra-SCG services, for submission to, and endorsement by, the 10 Strategic Health Authority Chief Executives and thereafter implementation by individual SCGs;
• Facilitate and encourage collaborative working across and between SCGs, and between SCGs and the national commissioning function through the initiation of joint projects, development of protocols and sharing of best practice;
• Advise PCTs on the commissioning of specialised services;
• Act as the main conduit between the NHS and DH on issues related to specialised services commissioned at a regional and supra-regional level
• Work together to deliver the annual NSCG work plan.

UK Genetics Testing Network

The UK Genetics Testing Network (UKGTN) is hosted by the Specialised Commissioning (NSC) Team. The team, together with four working groups are accountable to the UKGTN Steering Group.

UKGTN is an organisation set up by the Department of Health to advise NHS commissioners about developments in genetics and to improve equity of testing in the NHS. The network is a collaborative group of clinicians, NHS diagnostic laboratories, NHS commissioners and patient representative groups and is integral with specialised commissioning arrangements in support of clinical genetics.

Further information about the UKGTN is available from their website, which has three sections allocated to the public, NHS professionals and laboratories to provide the relevant information for NHS genetic testing.

National Ambulance Radio Project (NARP)

The NARP provides voice and data communications between ambulances and their control rooms via Airwave, a secure digital radio network that is dedicated to the emergency services and agencies that interoperate with them. The major components of the system are an integrated communication and control systems, a mobile data solution and fixed, vehicle mounted and hand portable radio terminals for all ambulance resources. The system is delivered by Airwave as a complete managed service.