One authorised CCG which needs “intensive support” is “confident” it will meet all conditions and another claims it has “robust plans” in place.
Medway and Herts Valley clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were authorised to take over a slice of the NHS budget yesterday but only with support from neighbouring CCGs and the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB).
The CCGs were instructed to clarify their financial plans to reassure the NHS CB.
Dr Nathan Nathan, Medway CCG’s chair said: “We are on track to meet our financial targets this year. We also have robust plans in place to meet financial targets for 2013/14 and the NHS CB has acknowledged that we have a strong team in place to concentrate on all that needs to be done.
Dr Nicholas Small, chair of Herts Valley CCG said: “We have already made significant progress towards strengthening our strategic and financial planning, putting measures in place to ensure that we have good governance arrangements and developing our clinical leadership.
“We look forward to having full statutory responsibility for commissioning good quality health care on behalf of local people and to improving the health of our local population.”
So far a total of 101 CCGs have the green light to take control of £65 billion of the NHS budget.
Dame Barbara Hakin, the NHS Commissioning Board’s national director for commissioning development said: “CCGs will have wide-ranging responsibilities and will manage very large budgets, so it is vital that they are robust and capable of making important decisions.
“The NHS Commissioning Board has a duty to ensure CCGs have that capability across all their responsibilities, and we take that duty very seriously.”
Yesterday (23 January 2013) 67 CCGs were authorised to plan and commission community health in the NHS CB’s second wave.
The Commissioning Review reported that Nene, Medway and Hert’s Valley CCGs will need “intensive support” and 45 have been authorised with conditions.
Nineteen CCGs have been authorised with no conditions, meaning they met all criteria.
Nene CCG has yet to comment.
