title: Redesign and commissioning of sexual health services in England - a qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Responsibility for the commissioning of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services transferred from the National Health Service to local authorities in England in 2013. This transfer prompted many local authorities to undertake new procurements of these SRH services. This study was undertaken to capture some of the lessons learnt in order to inform future commissioning and system redesign.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative study was carried out involving semi-structured interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviews were conducted with 13 local authority sexual health commissioners in Yorkshire and the Humber from 11 interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes from transcripts of the interviews with the 13 participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Key themes identified were as follows: the challenge and complexity to those new to clinical commissioning; the prerequisites of robust infrastructural inputs to undertake the process, including technical expertise, a dependable project team, with clarity over the timescales and the budget; the requirement for good governance, stakeholder engagement and successful management of relationships with the latter; and the need to focus on the outcomes, aiming for value for money and improved system performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Several key issues emerged from our study that significantly influenced the outcome of the redesign and commissioning process for sexual health services. An adapted model of the Donabedian evaluation framework was developed to provide a tool to inform future system redesign. Our model helps identify the key determinants for successful redesign in this context which is essential to both mitigate potential risks and maximize the likelihood of successful outcomes. Our model may have wider applications.
authors.affiliation: Yorkshire and the Humber Health Protection Team, Public Health England, Leeds LS1 4PL, UK; Leeds Institute for Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9LJ, UK. Electronic address: i.walker@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: I F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Yorkshire and the Humber Health Protection Team, Public Health England, Leeds LS1 4PL, UK; Leeds Institute for Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9LJ, UK.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Leigh-Hunt
authors.affiliation: Yorkshire and the Humber Health Protection Team, Public Health England, Leeds LS1 4PL, UK; School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DA, UK.
authors.forename: A C K
authors.initials: ACK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D009111:Local Government; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011634:Public Health; D036301:Qualitative Research; D060728:Reproductive Health; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Local government; Procurement; Public health; Qualitative research; Sexual health