William Laing examines how NHS reform is affecting the mental healthcare sector

The NHS reforms implemented on 1 April marked a major move towards centralisation of procurement of secure and other specialised mental health hospital services in England, which is now one of the tasks of the new NHS Commissioning Board under what promises to become a highly centralised commissioning regime. Under the reforms, the new centrally-based NHS Commissioning Board takes over all secure commissioning: a task formerly undertaken on a regional basis. The Board also holds commissioning responsibility for an expanded range of so-called prescribed services many of which had been commissioned on a local basis via the now defunct Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).