The Department of Health said last week that where CCG and council borders overlap, CCGs must realign their boundaries or plead their case before the NHS Commissioning Board to argue that patients will benefit by making an exception. Local health and wellbeing boards will also be able to object to any overlap.
Nationally, the NHS Confederation currently estimate there are around 250 prospective CCGs, while there are 121 upper-tier or unitary authorities in England.
In London, the 31 PCTs are currently matched to the 31 boroughs, but there are 38 GP-led consortia looking to form CCGs.
Birmingham has one local authority and 11 incipient GP-led consortia. ‘Some of the consortia have practices outside of the city boundaries,' said Dr Robert Morley, executive secretary of Birmingham LMC. ‘It is a chaotic shambles.'
