Recommendations from the Mid Staffs public inquiry will be published later this year, but the counsel’s summing up last month already provides fundamental lessons for CCGs

Sheffield CCG has just been handed a £720m budget. Dr Tim Moorhead describes what it feels like to hold the purse strings

Rebecca Norris gets top tips from GPs and other experts to assist CCGs as they move further into their role as overseers of the level of quality being provided in hospitals

Newham Commissioning Group is about to merge with another CCG to become borough-wide. Dr Hardip Nandra explains how.

HealthWorks CCG in the West Midlands unites a group of like-minded GP practices – from two different PCTs. Lead manager Lloyd Brackstone explains how they make it work

With varied localities, West Cheshire CCG pathfinder must harness links between clinicians and patients, says chair Dr Huw Charles-Jones

John Wardell, chief operating officer of Tower Hamlets clinical commissioning group, outlines how this pathfinder is gearing up to commission care for a borough with one of the most challenging demographics in the country

Marianne Price explains how a scheme employing dedicated pharmacists in care homes is saving Nene Commissioning £100,000 a year

Dr Mike Bewick, medical director, NHS Cumbria and a GP in Egremont explains how the senate works in his area.   The Cumbria senate was set up just over two years ago...

Fleetwood Community Commissioning Group is one of the smallest pathfinders in England and is being used by the Department of Health to test the viability of small commissioning groups nationally. Chair Dr Mark Spencer gives a progress report

Medicines management expert Jackie Lyon from NHS East Riding of Yorkshire explains how her team has knocked millions off its prescribing budget

Covering a staggering 670,000 patients across 83 practices, the Oxfordshire pathfinder is the biggest yet. Dr Stephen Richards explains the background

In this series, we check in with pathfinders around the country to see what makes them special. This month, we meet Whitstable Practice pathfinder chair, Dr John Ribchester

In this new series, we check in with pathfinders around the country to see what makes them special and discuss the challenges ahead. This month we talk to Dr Stewart Findlay, of the County Durham and Darlington Federation

Chair of WyvernHealth.Com, winner of the Vision Awards 2010, 'Most advanced primary care clinical commissioning group'

PBC lead of Goole, Howden and West Wolds locality commissioning group

Dr John Havard explains how his consortium set up a simple scheme to support vulnerable patients at home and avoid a costly hospital admission

Dr Robert White, reducing admissions lead with Carrick Commissioning Consortium in Cornwall, on the overlap between the clinical and the manageriakl, apathy in primary care and cutting through layers of red tape.

Getting GPs to sit down and discuss their referrals has cut rates by 9% and improved referral quality. Nene Commissioning’s Dr Darin Seiger and Sally Picken explain

Barbara Smith of Neurological Commissioning Support explains what a voluntary sector consultancy can bring to commissioning