Agenda item
Primary Care Co-Commissioning
Recommendation:
1. Consider the submitted application for delegated co-commissioning and its impact on future arrangements
2. Note the contents of the co-commissioning application; pending a decision from NHSE in February/March 2015, at which point further information will be provided on next steps.
Lead for Item: Jane Milligan, Chief Officer, Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group.
Minutes:
Primary Care Co-Commissioning
Special circumstances and Reasons for Urgency
The Board noted that the report had not been available for inspection within the timescales set out in the Authority’s Constitution, but agreed that there were special reasons for urgency and that the report should therefore be considered at the meeting in order to afford the Board the opportunity to consider the proposal in advance of its implementation in April 2015.
Jane Milligan, Chief Officer, Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group presented the report which provided a full and comprehensive update on primary care commissioning. The report outlined the invitation in May 2014 by NHS England for CCGs to express an interest in taking on an increased role in the commissioning of primary care services. Three models of co-commissioning were proposed, ranging from greater responsibility for CCGs in primary care decision making, the lowest level of involvement, through to delegated commissioning, the greatest level of involvement and responsibility;
It was noted that following engagement its membership and Governing Body, the Tower Hamlets CCG opted to apply for delegated commissioning arrangements. An application was submitted on 9th January 2015 in partnership with the CCGs across WEL (Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest). Should the application be successful, implementation of delegated commissioning arrangements would take place from April 1st 2015.
Jane Milligan explained that the aim of the proposed co-commissioning was to establish a collaborative effort with WEL CCGs to improve commissioning for their local residents. The Board noted a summary of the benefits and risks of co-commissioning for the primary care services for CCGs across WEL (Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest).
The proposed new arrangement would necessitate changes to the CCGs:
· Governance Structures
· Conflicts of Interest Policy and the separation in powers in the interests of accountability.
· Constitution
Members asked a number of questions on the decision making process, membership, voting powers and the remit of the new CCG Governing Bodies. In response, the following points were noted:
· Decisions would be made about primary care locally by the proposed CCG Committees by voting members made up of lay members and CCG officers and ratified by the CCG Governing Body;
· The proposed CCG Committees would be supported by the WEL Collaborative Forum whose role would be to make recommendations to the CCG Committees on the outcome of procurement processes and contract performance management decisions, including the monitoring of contracts;
· That the membership of the proposed CCG Committees included GP representatives and they would b fully engaged with the work of the Committees.
Members welcomed the proposals as a joint up working model and expressed their willingness to work with the CCG to ensure that the opportunities of bringing commissioning together and the making use of economies of scale through the sharing of resources would be realised.
RESOLVED
1. That the submitted application for delegated co-commissioning and its impact on future arrangements be noted;
2. That the contents of the co-commissioning application pending a decision from NHSE in February / March 2015 at which point further information would be provided on next steps be noted.
3. That officers report back to the Board in March 2015.
Action By: Jane Milligan (Chief Officer, Tower Hamlets Clinical
Commissioning Group)
Elizabeth Dowuona (Committee Officer LBTH)
Supporting documents:
- HWBB - Primary Care Co-commissioning Update Jan 15 (3), item 4.1 PDF 94 KB
- Co-commissioning Update 13 Jan 2015 agenda, item 4.1 PDF 435 KB