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.

Using data to improve dementia care in England

Public Health England has published a new Dementia Profile, providing access to local authority and CCG level data across the whole dementia care pathway.

Using data to improve dementia care in England
Public Health England
12 January 2016

Read more 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.

General practice commissioning: in whose interests?

"An investigation into England’s clinical commissioning groups shows that many are commissioning from organisations in which board members are involved."

General practice commissioning: in whose interests?
G Iacobucci
British Medical Journal, 2015, 351:h6000

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.

Exploring the GP ‘added value’ in commissioning

"In our observation of various meetings, we found a degree of complexity associated with CCG structures and governance arrangements. Unlike PCTs (their immediate predecessor organisations), CCGs are often quite different from one another, with different structures and distribution of responsibilities between the various committees, sub-committees etc. We were often unable to clearly define which body was responsible for which type of decisions and who was a member of a particular body."

Exploring the GP ‘added value’ in commissioning: What works, in what circumstances, and how? Final Report
I McDermott, A Coleman, N Perkins, D Osipovic, C Petsoulas, K Checkland
PRUComm
October 2015

Read more here.

The English Indices of Deprivation 2015

"This report outlines the main results from the Indices of Deprivation 2015, including the overall Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015, and provides examples and guidance on how to use and interpret the datasets. The accompanying technical report presents the conceptual framework of the new Indices of Deprivation 2015; the methodology for creating the domains and the overall Index of Multiple Deprivation; the quality assurance carried out to ensure reliability of the data outputs; and the component indicators and domains. All of the supporting documents and datasets for the Indices of Deprivation 2015 are available here."

The English Indices of Deprivation 2015
T Smith, M Noble, S Noble, G Wright, D McLennan, E Plunkett
Department for Communities and Local Government
September 2015

Read more here.

Transforming healthcare in England’s core cities

"Through a series of case studies, this report explains how core cities commissioners are addressing such challenges. It is grouped around four key themes:

• equitable care
• partnership working
• improving wellbeing
• changing healthcare."

Transforming healthcare in England’s core cities
NHS Clinical Commissioners
September 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.

Neurology services: outpatient analysis

"The resources will help clinicians and commissioners to assess if they comply with recommendations by the Royal College of Physicians that scheduled outpatient care should achieve national access targets and be close to the patient's home to ensure accurate diagnosis of symptoms and long term care for conditions ranging from migraine to motor neuron disease."

Neurology services: outpatient analysis
Public Health England
August 2015

Access the resources here.

Putting the consumer at the heart of UK healthcare

"The responsibility to allocate healthcare funding should be shifted from politicians and health sector bureaucrats to individual patients. Funding should closely follow patients, so that patients would allocate funding through the choices they made."

A patient approach: Putting the consumer at the heart of UK healthcare
K Niemietz
IEA Discussion Paper No. 64
Institute of Economic Affairs
August 2015

Read more here.

Transforming our health care system: Ten priorities for commissioners

"Commissioners require a high level of technical competence to undertake the 'transactional' elements of commissioning."

Transforming our health care system: Ten priorities for commissioners
C Naylor, et al.
The King's Fund
June 2015

Read more here.

Integrated health and social care: making it happen

"Integration isn’t an end point in itself: it’s part of the journey, and should be part of a broader shift to improving population health and wellbeing."

Join the club: Many in the NHS are signing up to integrated health and social care. But how can we make it happen?
HSJ Integration: An HSJ Supplement, 10th April 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.

Personal budgets in mental health: Key points on implementation

"This briefing is part of a series of publications on personal health budgets produced by the NHS Confederation in partnership with Think Local Act Personal...Individuals who are supported to engage more effectively with their condition and with healthcare professionals have a positive experience of their care, and experience better health outcomes.”

Personal budgets in mental health: Key points on implementation
NHS Confederation
April 2015, Issue 284

Read more here.

Practical guide to engaging with health and wellbeing boards

"The purpose of this guide is to provide a consolidated overview of how Health and Wellbeing Boards are working, and outline practical steps for voluntary sector organisations looking to engage with HWBs based on this knowledge.

This briefing is part of a series on engaging with new local government bodies. If you find this resource useful, have a look at the rest of the series, which covers clinical commissioning groups  police and crime commissioners (due late March 2015) and local enterprise
partnerships (due April 2015)."

Practical guide to engaging with health and wellbeing boards
N Depani
Compact Voice
March 2015

Read more here.

Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG)

"PSSAG is a Department of Health expert committee that was established in 2013 to provide ongoing advice to Ministers on whether services are specialised and should be nationally commissioned by NHS England, rather than locally commissioned by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)."

Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG): Recommendations to Ministers
Department of Health
March 2015

Read more here.