24.04.12
Mandate promotes local power for commissioners
The NHS Clinical Commissioning Coalition (NHS CC) has published its mandate today, based on four pillars identified by clinical commissioners. This states that the Coalition will provide an independent, balanced representation of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), to enable them to lead local innovation.
The pillars are a need to focus on public health, to avoid over-centralism, to promote local flexibility and a collective working approach to integrate health and social care.
Dr Michael Dixon, a senior member of the NHS CC, said: “The Coalition is determined to support and champion clinical commissioning groups and their leaders to ensure that they feel empowered and have the tools to deliver a new NHS that is shaped by local needs and solutions; an NHS that is committed not only to improving patient care but is also integrated and plays a key role in the health of whole communities.”
Another senior member of the NHS CC, Dr Charles Alessi, said: “The time for primary care has arrived. We now have the opportunity to demonstrate, with our patients and local stakeholders, the transformation that can be achieved locally in the quality of service provision, in bringing care out of hospitals as well as other institutions, and in demonstrating value for money.”
The full mandate is as follows:
To provide an independent voice and champion for CCGs and their leaders
To represent CCGs as the united body of frontline commissioners
To ensure that the ideals and ethos of clinical commissioning are upheld and that clinicians are given the right balance of power and responsibility
To ensure that there is the right balance between local and centre
To enable clinical commissioners to lead innovation and redesign, providing care closer to home and improving the health of their communities
To be guardians of the rhetoric of a ‘NHS that is run from the consulting room’, maintaining and strengthening the role of CCGs as membership organisations for their local GP practices.
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