Preface: Values-based Commissioning

Values-based practice is not another category of commissioning to rank with practice-based commissioning, locality commissioning, or commissioning for outcomes in health and social care. Values-basing is about the processes that can be applied to any form of commissioning, anywhere. This book explores these processes. The UK revolution in commissioning health and social care makes a very convenient backdrop, but not a reason, for a highly topical discussion of what values-basing really means.

Values-based commissioning describes the theoretical and practical demands on clinicians and social care professionals of using stated values to achieve an improved process for filtering the available evidence to achieve improved outcomes for patients and service users. Commissioning is a complex and iterative process that requires commissioners to balance evidence and values so as to achieve the best health and social care appropriate to the needs of individuals.