Gloucestershire Creative Health Consortium
Gloucestershire

In Gloucestershire there was recognition at commissioning level that organisations needed to work together in a non-competitive way to deliver its Arts on Prescription model.  Small contracts were not an effective use of time.  Local procurement advised a prime provider model be used, where there is one contract with a ‘prime’ organisation who in turn will subcontract specific elements to other organisations. 

The commissioner provided clarity on the model and facilitated the conversations managing the relationship of those organisations already supporting Arts on Prescription.  

The more appealing legal framework for the organisations was an ‘Alliance Contractual Model’ where a group of providers enter an arrangement with each other to provide services underpinned by a set of agreed principles.  This was preferred as all organisations working in the alliance share the risk and rewards.  An alliance contract model is still the ambition of the consortium, however in the interim Art Shape takes the lead as a ‘prime provider’.

The commissioner provided clarity on the model and facilitated the conversations managing the relationship of those organisations already supporting Arts on Prescription.