The Changing Public Health System: an Examination of the new Commissioning Infrastructure

Abstract

Chapter 8 reports research on the changing role of commissioning in the restructured public health system. The chapter will discuss how public health commissioning responsibilities have changed and become more fragmented, being split amongst a range of different organisations, most of which were newly created in 2013. It will focus on discussing how the re-organisation substantially changed the way public health commissioning is done, who is doing it, and what is commissioned, since the reforms. There have been significant changes in commissioning processes, with important consequences for what health improvement services are ultimately commissioned. Also new opportunities for creativity and joining public health with wider determinants of health (e.g. housing and leisure).