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NHS England: Chairman welcomes new name

The Chairman of the NHS’s new national body has welcomed the change of the organisation’s name to NHS England.

The new body, which has until now been known as the NHS Commissioning Board, will have overall responsibility for the £95 billion NHS commissioning budget from 1 April 2013.

From this date it will be called NHS England. The main aim of NHS England is to improve the health outcomes for people in England. It will set the overall direction and priorities for the NHS as a whole.

Professor Malcolm Grant said: “The name ‘NHS England’ gives people a greater sense of what the organisation is because it is more closely aligned to the responsibilities of the new organisation, which are to achieve real improvements for patients for every pound invested by the nation in the NHS”

More detail is set out in Professor Grant’s letter to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of State’s response.

13 comments

  1. Pearl Baker says:

    I don’t the change of name will make a blind bit of difference to the general public or the Professionls.

    When you have CCG board members saying we are not responsible for commissioning services for the mentally ill, there is indeed a problem.

    What is the problem, GPs are not Managers, they are Clinicans. Good bright GPs are waisted on these boards, their patients are given little time in consultations, that is if they can get an appointment.

  2. Kate Bevan says:

    Cant believe that time and money is spent thinking up a new name for the NHS

    i have just come back from visiting my husband in hospital perhaps Malcolm would like to come with me to see what is really going on

    I cant even get a fan for my husband in this heat because it has to be bought through the NHS although Tescos donated fans the wards were not allowed to use them

    Where is common sense and reason , have these attributes flown out the window

    Sorry I am Scottish and live in England , didnt think I would be discriminated against I thought we were the United Kingdom

    There is strength in unity, the ancient philosophers tell us , but hey what do they know !!!

  3. Sophie Corbett says:

    I like it. No-one outside the NHS understands what a ‘commissioning board’ is anyway, it sounds bureaucratic and alienates.

  4. Anon says:

    NHS England hardly explains what the function is!

  5. janet hayes-hall says:

    Its certainly easier to spell!

  6. Anon says:

    So when exactly did the communictaions with the Department of Health’s team go ahead to ensure that the timing and the message was exactly right?

    I particularly like Jeremy Hunt’s bullet: the name change does NOT mean that NHS England is the headquarters of the NHS. I wonder when David Nic is going to tell everyone the opposite

  7. Anon says:

    too many band 8s – and they probably hired a hotel for the event

  8. Anon says:

    How many band 8s were commissioned to think up the name ‘NHS England’?

  9. Graeme McFarlane says:

    With everything that is going on in the NHS, job losses, ill thought through re-structuring, lack of processes, important deadlines looming, and continued confusion are we really happy to see that our ‘National Leaders’ are delighted with their new name, beggars belief…

  10. Anon says:

    What a waste of money.

  11. Sam Leigh says:

    I don’t think the reason for name change is good enough when you think about the current economic situation but these decisions are always taken without really listening to the masses or caring about what we have to say.
    How much is this name change going to cost?
    I guess we will have to get rid of all the stationery used by CB now to be replaced by NHS England stationery?

    We’ve not had a payrise in 3 years, inflation is rising, utilities are going up and life is generally getting tougher for the common man and you still think spending the tax payers money on a name change is the way forward.

    I personally do not think it’s that important!!

  12. Dr Ron SInger says:

    Dropping the word ‘commissioning’ when that is your primary function seems to be because you know commissioning will become a dirty word as the NHS shrinks in terms of what it is financially able to provide cf NIcholson Challenge and transaction costs for tendering etc, let alone dividends for share holders of private companies.. CCGs are set up to take the blame locally as patients feel the efects of restricted GP referrals.

  13. mark sterry says:

    This really is the start of the end of the NATIONAL health service isn’t it!
    At a time when we are facing budgets cuts and the aftermath of the Francis report, we should be sticking together and sharing good practice not fragmenting.