ABSTRACT
Southampton is a gaining district and the commission had the task of deciding how to allocate the funds available. What lessons can be learned from the Southampton experience? If the strategies of commissions are to continue to have relevance, they must reflect more carefully the priorities of GPs. Too many options were involved for the Southampton Commission as well as its stakeholders to consider comfortably. By developing a health strategy of its own, it pursued a proactive and rational planning policy which linked needs assessment more closely with purchasing decisions. Priority setting has long been recognized as a difficult task, and the exercise demonstrated again that there is no quick fix. Priorities are strongly influenced by an assessment of needs. A subjective element is involved in the assessment of the effectiveness of treatment as well as its cost.
