Report on future of NHS commissioning published

Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have published their consultation report on the future of NHS commissioning locally.
This follows a consultation by Birmingham CrossCity CCG, Birmingham South Central CCG and Solihull CCG over the summer, which gathered views on proposals to change the way commissioning is arranged.
The three options included:

• Staying as three separate CCGs, but establishing a shared management team, governance and decision making.
• A single CCG for Birmingham and a single CCG for Solihull, and establish joint working arrangements with Solihull CCG with single management teams, joint processes and committees.
• A full functional organisational merger – one single CCG for Birmingham and Solihull

Following the conclusion of the consultation, the CCGs report that option three, a full organisational merger, was the most supported option. It is aimed that their intention to merge the CCGs will come into effect in April 2018.

Healthwatch Birmingham response to the consultation

Key points from our response to the consultation’s proposals are included in the published report:

• In regards to the preferred option, to merge the CCGs, we commented that attention must be paid to the importance of engaging with grassroots organisations  to ensure the different needs of communities is taken into account.
• We also commented that the citizen voice of the West Birmingham, which currently falls under a different CCG, must be included and a key part of commissioning decisions.
• Our response emphasised the importance of patient and public involvement in commissioning as a way to effectively tackle health inequalities.

More information, including the full consultation report can be found here.