Three west country CCGs are set to merge to create a new organisation with a combined budget of £1.15bn.
NHS England gave the green light to the merger of NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCGs.
They are the latest CCGs to announce a merger.
Logical step
The CCGs said the move was a ‘logical next step’ to create a ‘strong single commissioner’.
Between them, the three CCGs care for 934,000 people.
Three west country CCGs are set to merge to create a new organisation with a combined budget of £1.15bn.
NHS England gave the green light to the merger of NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCGs.
They are the latest CCGs to announce a merger.
Logical step
The CCGs said the move was a ‘logical next step’ to create a ‘strong single commissioner’.
Between them, the three CCGs care for 934,000 people.
Dr Martin Jones, the clinical chair at Bristol CCG said: ‘The merger is a logical progression that will help us create a stronger single commissioning voice better able to deliver the resilient, sustainable NHS sustainable NHS services that local patients need.’
The merger was first proposed in August, discussed by stakeholders and the governing bodies and put to the 93 GP practices the following month.
Members voted to support the proposal before an application was made to NHS England. NHS England backed the plan and the new CCG will start work on April 1 in 2018.
Julia Ross will take up the helm and is already chief executive of the three CCGs.
The CCGs hope the merger will boost its commissioning and clinical leadership role, with a single budget and commissioning strategy.
They also expect patients will get more consistent services and resources will be used more efficiently.
Other mergers
There were 211 CCGs when the new system started in 2013. They control two thirds of the NHS budget, or £73.6bn in 2017/18, according to the King’s Fund.
NHS Newcastle North East and Newcastle North West were the first to announce plans to merge in 2015. Since then, other CCGs have followed suit to save money and become more efficient.
South Gloucestershire CCG’s clinical chair Dr Jonathan Hayes said: ‘Although we already work very closely together, with a single chief executive and executive team, the merger will give new impetus to our work to transform and improve services on behalf of local patients.’
His counterpart at North Somerset CCG, Dr Mary Backhouse, said the team were rolling up their sleeves to get ready for the new organisation. ‘We now begin the detailed work of preparing for the merger,’ she said.