News

Wave 4 authorisation applications received

All of the 211 emerging clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England have now submitted their applications for authorisation to take on their clinical commissioning responsibilities.

The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) has this week received submissions from the 46 CCGs in Wave 4 – the final group to present their applications.

The NHS CB is responsible for supporting the development of CCGs, and the authorisation process has been designed to ensure that CCGs are able to commission safely, use their budgets responsibly and exercise their functions to improve quality, reduce inequality and deliver improved outcomes. The 211 CCGs were divided into waves to help the NHS CB manage the task of assessing each CCG’s evidence against the rigorous criteria set out in regulations which support the Health and Social Care Act.

Dame Barbara Hakin, National Director: Commissioning Development at the NHS Commissioning Board, said: “The submission of applications for all 211 clinical commissioning groups marks a real milestone in the work to establish a clinically-led commissioning system in England. In all four waves, every single CCG submitted its evidence on time and this reflects the hard work and dedication CCG leaders have shown throughout the authorisation process.”

The full list of authorisation waves is available. Each CCG will take on its commissioning responsibilities in April 2013, irrespective of which wave it is in.

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2 comments

  1. Jim Pragnell says:

    I am a patient in West Kent and with some colleagues am trying to pursuade our CCG to amend its draft constitution. West Kent is in Wave 4 and have already submitted its draft constitution to you. They have told me that it would prefer to wait until the CCG is authorised before considering any amendments to its constitution.

    Would you have any objection to the CCG submitting an amended constitution to you before you commence the authorisation process? Would doing this delay the process or in any way be detrimental to the CCG?

    • Simon@NHS CB says:

      Hi Jim
      Thank you for your comment. Wave four CCGs are very much into the assessment process already so for a CCG to amend its draft constitution from the format that has been assessed at both desk top and site visit stage would be potentially very detrimental to its progress at this stage. Any criteria related to the constitution would have to be automatically marked as ‘unmet’ before they are able to be fundamentally reassessed to ensure that the new version meets the required thresholds. Increasing the number of unmet criteria would mean that the CCG could be authorised with far more conditions than would be the case if the draft remains in the state in which it was assessed.

      Under section 14E of the NHS Act 2006 (as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012), a CCG once authorised may apply to the NHS CB to vary its constitution. Therefore, the CCG in question may wish to consider your requested changes once it has been established and authorised as a statutory body.

      Kind regards
      Simon

      Digital Communications Officer
      NHS Commissioning Board