NHS England, as part of its direct commissioning responsibilities for specialised services, has an ongoing programme in place to identify both local and national opportunities to identify potential efficiencies as part of its management and prioritisation of available resources.

NHS England’s Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), involving lead clinical, patient and professional representatives, are assisting NHS England in this work, particularly in respect of proposals that might be considered nationwide.

Specialised neonatal care is one of NHS England’s most significant areas of expenditure and the Neonatal CRG has therefore been involved in identifying potential neonatal specific schemes, which may have the potential to deliver savings while maintaining safety and quality. The schemes will be subject to a confirm and challenge process to determine their deliverability, before being worked up into schemes which could be implemented on a national basis.

It is therefore not possible, at this stage in the programme’s development, to quantify the level of savings that might be generated nationally or the specific savings approach that will be adopted.

It is unlikely that the national schemes currently being considered will generate savings in 2014-15. The schemes are more likely to be transformational in design and therefore are more likely to deliver savings in the longer term.

NHS England, as part of its direct commissioning responsibilities for specialised services, has an ongoing programme in place to identify both local and national opportunities to identify potential efficiencies as part of its management and prioritisation of available resources.

NHS England’s Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), involving lead clinical, patient and professional representatives, are assisting NHS England in this work, particularly in respect of proposals that might be considered nationwide.

Specialised neonatal care is one of NHS England’s most significant areas of expenditure and the Neonatal CRG has therefore been involved in identifying potential neonatal specific schemes, which may have the potential to deliver savings while maintaining safety and quality. The schemes will be subject to a confirm and challenge process to determine their deliverability, before being worked up into schemes which could be implemented on a national basis.

It is therefore not possible, at this stage in the programme’s development, to quantify the level of savings that might be generated nationally or the specific savings approach that will be adopted.

It is unlikely that the national schemes currently being considered will generate savings in 2014-15. The schemes are more likely to be transformational in design and therefore are more likely to deliver savings in the longer term.

This information is not collected centrally.

'Routine' neonatal care is commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and 'specialised' neonatal care is directly commissioned by NHS England.

NHS England does not hold data on current spend across the country on specialised neonatal care. It is in the process of developing a single, standard mechanism for counting, coding and analysing specialised services activity and finance data. NHS England does not hold information relating to CCG expenditure on 'routine' neonatal care.