Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley set out the government's plans to reform the NHS in the White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. One of his flagship policies is the devolution of power and budgetary responsibility for the commissioning of NHS services to GP consortia. The ambition behind this policy is to achieve a clinically led and more patient-focused NHS, yet the key lesson of the past decade is that the impact of these reforms will depend on how effectively they are implemented. Our conference will explore the challenges of implementing GP commissioning and how it can be effectively translated into practice.

The conference will include examples from GP practices and consortia that have been leading the way in innovative practice. It will help you to think about the key factors required for establishing effective and successful GP commissioning.

Key topics include:

• Understanding the building blocks of commissioning
• referral management and quality improvement
• establishing effective and successful GP commissioning consortia
• moving clinicians to the heart of the decision-making.
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• Keynote speaker
• Earl Howe, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Quality (Department of Health)
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• Speakers will include the following:
• Dr Peter Devlin, Clinical Director, NHS Brighton and Hove 
• Professor Steve Field, GP and Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners
• Dr Shane Gordon, GP and Chief Executive, Colchester PBC 
• Professor Chris Ham, Chief Executive, The King's Fund
• Candace Imison, Deputy Director of Policy, The King's Fund