06.12.17
West Midlands CCGs put forward shared governance plans
A group of three CCGs in Worcestershire have outlined plans to share members of staff and hold joint governing body meetings.
Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG along with South Worcestershire CCG and Wyre Forest CCG have put forward proposals which would see them operate as a ‘committee in common’ moving towards merging while staying as three separate organisations.
Under the current preferred proposals, the three groups would share some executive and lay members while still having CCG-specific GP members and chairs rotating from each organisation.
The ideas have been put forward to help align decision making and release capacity so that more focus can be put on key areas.
Having been offered a range of options on closer shared governance, board papers from the CCGs show the current proposals are the preferred direction of members as they offer “the greatest alignment and efficiency within the current legislative constraints while maintaining local clinical focus without merging the three CCGs into a single organisation.”
They added: “It also facilitates the release of some lay, clinical and practice manager capacity to focus their expertise in key priority areas in non-governing body roles.
“Feedback from lay members and governing body GPs has been taken into consideration including suggestions regarding the appropriate number and specific remit of lay member roles.”
As well as improving capacity, the plans are also expected to create better countywide clinical leadership with programme leads for county issues.
In addition, the separation of the organisations is expecting to retain clinical focus at a local level, while allowing specific engagement with GP practices via the CCGs.
The board papers show the CCGs next steps: “Over the next few weeks we will engage with Healthwatch to further develop this proposal, in particular to refine the governance structure around stakeholder engagement and membership of committees.”
The three CCGs are expected to seek future approval and consultation from NHS England and all member GP practices will be sought, with changes taking effect from 1 April next year if all three groups agree.
Top image: AshleyMayesPhotography
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