Commissioners have been urged to monitor the role of CCGs in their local economies, in a report released by NHS Clinical Commissioners today.
The report advises NHS managers to look at how the services they commission can improve not only the health, but also the social and economic wellbeing, of their patients.
Commissioners have been urged to monitor the role of CCGs in their local economies, in a report released by NHS Clinical Commissioners today.
The report advises NHS managers to look at how the services they commission can improve not only the health, but also the social and economic wellbeing, of their patients.
Analysing commissioning in the eight largest cities outside of London, the authors found that CCGs are working with a wide range of partners to end health inequalities and social exclusion.
For example, Sheffield CCG is working with local government and community partners to increase physical activity, which costs the health and social care system £8.2bn annually.
Following the lack of funding for the NHS in the Autumn Statement, NHSCC has said “the question of how the NHS can drive prosperity in local areas is an increasingly important one”.
Dr Tim Moorhead, chair of NHSCC’s Core Cities Network and clinical chair of NHS Sheffield CCG, said: “This new report demonstrates the important role the health sector plays in local economies and shows how CCGs in England’s core cities are commissioning not only to improve the health but social and economic wellbeing of their populations.
“While there is a lot of good work already happening we are keen to do even more, and the recommendations in the report highlight how the contribution that clinical commissioning makes to local economic growth can be further increased.”
Recommendations in the report for both national and local organisations on maximising the health sector’s role in driving economic prosperity include:
Ensuring the next round of devolution plans emphasise public sector reform and explicitly consider the role of the health sector in the local economy
Developing metrics to recognise, encourage, and measure the contribution of the health sector in local economic growth
Clinical commissioners playing a more active role in their local area’s strategic economic plan
This report builds on some of the themes in NHSCC’s report into the future of commissioning, published in October, which sets out how clinical commissioning is evolving.
