20 April
Andrew Lansley sets out objectives for NHS Commissioning Board
The health secretary said ‘promoting the autonomy of CCGs must be embedded within the culture of the board' and also spelt out that CCGs would have the freedom to work with ‘whomever they want' in securing support for commissioning health services.
He added there would be no ‘top-slicing' of funds for commissioning support and expected ‘rapid achievement' by the board during 2012/13 to ensure choice was possible.
• dh.gov.uk/health/ 2012/04/authority-objectives
24 April
New single commissioning organisation announced
The NHS Alliance and NAPC announced they are to form a ‘single-membership' commissioning organisation in partnership with the NHS Confederation.
Talks are now taking place to establish how the new body – to be called NHS Clinical Commissioners – will sit with the existing respective organisations. The announcement was made at a meeting of CCG leaders in London.
2 May
An initial 35 CCGs named in first wave of authorisation applications
Dubbed the ‘A team' by some, these CCGs could be statutory bodies by the end of the year.
• commissioningboard.nhs.uk/2012/05/02/wave-1-ccg-aut/
8 May
Health bill risk register blocked by ministerial veto
Mr Lansley said the move was necessary to protect the ‘safe space where officials are able to give ministers full and frank advice in developing policies and programmes'.
8 May
Four regional directors for NHS Commissioning Board announced
Perhaps unsurprisingly, all four have been drawn from the SHA/PCT pool.
Sir John Oldham announced days before that he will not be taking up a board position, making the potential pool of GPs to choose from for future board positions even smaller.
• commissioningboard.nhs.uk/2012/05/08/reg-dir-appoint/
Sue McNulty is the editor of Practical Commissioning. Follow Sue on Twitter: @praccommed
