JOINT COMMISSIONING - ORGANIZATIONAL REVOLUTION OR MISPLACED ENTHUSIASM

One of the paradoxes of the shift towards markets in health and social care has been the renewed emphasis upon more effective collaboration between the professionals and agencies involved. This has led to a sea rch for ways of developing a range of joint ventures such as informati on sharing, joint community care planning and joint assessment of need s. However, the most ambitious collaborative vehicle is the emergence of joint commissioning between health and social care and possibly add itional agencies. This article explores the background to the developm ent of joint commissioning and the nature of joint commissioning, and examines some of the obstacles which will need to sioning ventures are to succeed. It concludes that joint commissioning is more than a mere ly 'technical' purchasing activity, and that the political dimensions also need to be confronted.