Challenging health inequalities: Support for CCGs

"Health inequalities are currently estimated to cost the NHS a total of at least £20 billion each year so it is imperative to harness the influence of each CCG to challenge where health inequalities can be reduced and greater equality established."

Challenging health inequalities: Support for CCGs
NHS England
October 2017

Read more here.

Clinical commissioning: GPs in charge?

"Clinically led approaches to planning and designing health services are more likely to be both innovative and effective. For this reason, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were set up to put GPs at the heart of NHS planning decisions. What progress have CCGs made in implementing their clinically led model and what more needs to be done? This report looks at what has been learnt – including strategies to overcome challenges and identification of the main barriers to effective involvement – and makes recommendations for the future. Its findings about clinical involvement are relevant not only to policy-makers and CCGs but also to other organisations across the NHS involved in planning and designing services."

Clinical commissioning: GPs in charge?
R Robertson, S Ross, C Naylor, H Holder, S Machaqueiro
The King's Fund
July 2016

Read more here.

Securing meaningful choice for patients

"This guide sets out more detail on the fundamental enablers for effective patient choice and the key actions needed to strengthen or put them in place."

Securing meaningful choice for patients: CCG planning and improvement guide
NHS England, NHS Improvement,
August 2016

Access the guide here.

Collaboration in general practice: surveys of GPs and CCGs

"GPs and CCGs report that the growth in collaborative working is driven primarily by CCG encouragement alongside financial pressures faced within general practice and a desire to expand the range of services offered in primary care."

Collaboration in general practice: surveys of GPs and CCGs
S Kumpunen, N Curry, N Edwards, M Holmes, H Price, T Ballard
Royal College of General Practitioners, Nuffield Trust
December 2015

Read more here.

Local solutions to national challenges

"CCGs are now firmly established as key players in delivering quality health services and shaping the long-term future of the NHS. They are local doctors who understand the needs of their areas, focusing on the national priorities of sickness prevention, public health, self-care and care delivered in the community."

Local solutions to national challenges: Delivering our commitment to patients
NHS Clinical Commissioners
October 2015

Read more here.

Indicators of quality of care in general practices in England

"The review makes a series of recommendations to government, including:

• developing a small set of indicators that show information about what matters most to the public, health care professionals and those accountable for the quality of general practice
• consolidating the multiple existing websites currently sharing information about general practice quality, with information selected and presented to meet the differing needs of health care professionals and the public
• developing a national strategy for improving the quality of general practice and primary care that guides indicator development, with progress assessed through the Secretary of State’s annual report
• providing support to those working in general practice about how to understand and use information to improve patient care."

Indicators of quality of care in general practices in England: An independent review for the Secretary of State for Health
J Dixon, E Spencelayh, A Howells, A Mandel, F Gille
The Health Foundation
October 2015

Read more here.

Measuring the performance of local health systems

"This report summarises the results of a rapid review of how to assess the performance of local health systems through the lens of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The review was commissioned by the Department of Health who asked The King’s Fund to advise on the ‘first principles’ of a local health system scorecard for the NHS in England."

Measuring the performance of local health systems: a review for the Department of Health
C Ham, V Raleigh, C Foot, R Robertson, H Alderwick
The King's Fund
October 2015

Read more here.

Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups

"The new arrangements from April 2015 for co-commissioning primary care services from GPs increase the risk of significant conflicts of interest in CCGs."

Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups
National Audit Office
September 2015

Read more here.

Putting the pieces together: Removing the barriers to excellent patient care

"We need a system that enables doctors, nurses and others on the front line of the NHS to deliver the safest, most effective care, in whatever setting is most appropriate for each patient’s needs."

Putting the pieces together: Removing the barriers to excellent patient care
Royal College of Physicians
September 2015

Read more here.

Explained: The legal challenges to CCG decision making

"As budgets are squeezed and decision making is more transparent, CCG decision making leaves them open to challenges through the legal system."

Explained: The legal challenges to CCG decision making
D Lawson
Health Service Journal, 1st May 2015

Read more here.

Right Care reading list: Outcomes-based commissioning

NHS Right Care regularly publishes reading lists on specific themes relevant to the Right Care programme. The latest one is a reading list providing the best evidence on Outcomes-based commissioning.

Access the reading list here.

Risk or reward? The changing role of CCGs in general practice

"This report outlines five key areas of work that CCGs and NHS England must focus on in order to ensure that the current model of commissioning is sustainable and maximises the benefits of new co-commissioning arrangements."

Risk or reward? The changing role of CCGs in general practice
H Holder, R Robertson, S Ross, L Bennett, J Gosling, N Curry
The King's Fund, Nuffield Trust
January 2015

Read more here.

Click here to read a summary from The Commissioning Elf.

Part of the National Elf Service

The Engagement Cycle

"The Engagement Cycle helps organisations undertake meaningful patient and public engagement for maximum impact. It is a tried and tested, practical resource, used by dozens of Clinical Commissioning Groups (and others) to plan, design and deliver great services for, and with, local people."

Access The Engagement Cycle here.

How is the NHS performing?

"The Quarterly monitoring report combines publicly available data on selected NHS performance measures with views from NHS finance directors and clinical commissioning group (CCG) finance leads."

How is the NHS performing? Quarterly monitoring report
J Appleby, J Thompson, J Jabbal
The King's Fund
July 2014

Read more here.

Patient and public engagement - still an aspiration?

"Local health economies have so far not been successful in engaging with patients and the public."

Patient and public engagement - still an aspiration?
Tea Break Debates
Primary Care Commissioning, People Matters Network
July 2013

Read more here.

Bulletin for Clinical Commissioning Groups

This is the first CCG bulletin of the new financial year and the first in the new clinically-led commissioning system. Read more about future activities and events here.