The Commissioning Handbook is a live, collaborative, work in progress, developed by information professionals across NHS England and led by Quality:MK -  a partnership which numbers NHS Milton Keynes, health:mk and LINks:MK.

A dynamic resource for a fast changing environment, and open for all to access, the Handbook was developed and launched by a innovative working group with support from the former National Library Health. It enables information professionals to pool their knowledge of resources and good practice so that we can better support NHS staff involved in commissioning health services. 

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1. The aim is to share resources and link to content that helps librarians understand:

• What commissioning involves and the stages of the commissioning cycle: ie. sharing the basics for those new to the field;
• Key areas in which those involved in aspects of commissioning need and want information; 
• The range of information work that is currently done to support commissioning. To support this, current best practice and models of service are being shared within the wiki.
• How to locate the best available evidence for commissioners: including search terms, and also examples of searches done & their impact.

2. The focus is on linking to existing content, including specialised information resources (and specifically NLH Commissioning Library), and sharing search terms and strategies. The handbook also serves as a repository for documents and presentations eg. enabling access to / sharing working documents produced and used by information professionals in the field, and practical examples.

3. The content: We have made no attempt to produce a comprehensive listing. Rather, the handbook represents a working collection of those resources which contributors regard as good starting–points, and key resources. As such, we hope it will be of help to those new to the field as well as those familiar with the subject matter. The positioning of content within a section is not intended to convey any systematic ranking.

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4. Contributors: The e-handbook is produced collaboratively, and was initially developed and launched by a vibrant and committed working group, many of whom remain on the Editorial Advisory Group.

5.  Articles about the wiki

The Commissioning Wiki: An Online Handbook by Sue Lacey Bryant , Tim Judkins , Nigel Walker

Journal of Management & Marketing in Healthcare July 2009:  Volume 2 (3) Pages: 305 - 307

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