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Commissioning tsar praises ‘mature’ CCGs for ensuring GPs don’t dominate boards

The Government's commissioning tsar has described CCGs as ‘mature' for reducing the number of GPs on their governing bodies, following Pulse's investigation which found that GPs are taking up less than half the seats on emerging CCG boards.

Our investigation earlier this week revealed that in some areas, financial restraints have forced CCGs to actively cut the number of GPs on their boards – raising concerns that GPs are being forced to accept a limited role in overseeing the commissioning process.

But Dame Barbara Hakin, the Department of Health's national director for commissioning, said the trend was a positive one, as it was allowing other groups to have a bigger say in how services are commissioned.

Addressing the board meeting of the NHS Commissioning Board yesterday, Dame Barbara said CCGs were being ‘mature' by being more inclusive and allowing more non-GPs onto their boards: ‘There was, initially, a great degree of concern that because CCGs are membership organisations, built from the basis of the practices… that the governing bodies would be absolutely dominated by GPs and would not start to reflect their communities and key stakeholders.

‘It is interesting that we are starting to get some evidence that the organisations have been really mature and that they aren't absolutely dominated by GPs, and that there's a wide variety of individuals on the governing bodies.'