The NHS Southwark CCG Constitution
As you will be aware we are currently working to establish the new NHS Southwark Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as a membership organisation of every practice in the borough
If we are successful this will establish front line professionals as the driving force behind commissioning decisions for our local residents, replacing the PCT from 1 April 2013.
As a statutory body for commissioning local health services the CCG will be governed by a constitution agreed by all of its member practices. The constitution sets out how the organisation will operate with its membership, how decisions will be made and where accountability and responsibility for commissioning will sit after 1 April 2013. This is a critical document and one that all practices will need to understand and agree.
Engaging Practices – Please feedback by 9th July 2012
In order that we are able to achieve the challenging timescales ahead we are attaching the very first draft of the NHS Southwark CCG Constitution (Appendix A). We are keen to hear initial practice feedback, comments and questions by 10am on 9th July 2012.
We aim to co-produce this document by engaging with practices, so the draft attached is by no means finished, as you will see. However, we wanted to take every opportunity to gain practices initial thoughts so we can include them in the drafting.
Once we have received feedback on the 9th July 2012 from practices we will seek to reflect those in a second draft that will be circulated to practices on 12 July 2012. We will then seek to incorporate any further comments in to a final draft.
Attached is a feedback form (Appendix B) for comments and questions and I would ask that you return this to maggie.aiken@southwarkpct.nhs.uk.
Important – Please Read
Over the past weeks we have been updating practices in PLTs, locality meetings and on practices visits to talk about the likely content of the constitution and you will have seen the briefing notes we have been circulating. None-the-less we recognise that this document is complicated and much of the content will be unfamiliar to you. We would ask that you keep sending through your questions as we go through the coming weeks and we will attempt to answer them as swiftly as possible.
We also hope that some of the key points highlighted below will assist you in considering the document:
1. The Governing Body
The ‘CCG is its members’ and it is our Southwark practices that will hold accountability for commissioning after 1 April 2013. As a result the constitution often refers to the CCG delegating many duties to ‘The Governing Body’ to exercise tasks on its behalf. The governing body would then be held accountable by the membership for doing this in addition to some specific roles that the Governing Body is required to undertake by the new Health and Social Care Act 2012.
2. Accountability and a Council of Members
As you will be aware the CCG is currently holding elections for GP and Nurse representatives for the Governing Body and the constitution will require them to represent and engage with you in the work of the CCG. They will achieve this through direct practice contact and through the locality meetings and structures as we have at present.
In addition the CCG would like to create a forum for more direct practice involvement in decision making and would wish to create a ‘Council of Members’ that each practice will have a GP member on. The Council would meet bi-annually. It would be the forum for considering any changes to the constitution. It would also be the forum by which the members could approve the annual commissioning plan and seek direct assurance from the Governing Body that it was being delivered against.
3. Practice Commissioning Leads
For some time in Southwark each practice has nominated a practice lead GP for commissioning and the constitution would seek to continue and formalise that arrangement. Each practice would nominate a lead GP that would be responsible for a small but important number of provisional activities (dependent upon the final constitution content) within their practice (See Appendix C). That GP lead would be the key point of contact for the Governing Body and would represent the practice on the Council of Members.
At present the Southwark Business Support Unit (BSU) holds a list of the current lead GPs and this is attached at Appendix D. Please could I ask you to review this list and confirm that, as a practice, you are happy that the name listed is the individual that would perform this role.
Summary
We hope that the information above is helpful. The following documents are attached to this letter:
- First Draft NHS Southwark CCG Constitution
- Feedback form for practices
- The provisional list of Practice lead GP activities (Provisional)
- The current list of Lead GPs held by Southwark BSU
Please can we ask for practices to:
- Feedback any comments or questions on the Draft Constitution
- Confirm the GP Commissioning Lead name for your practice
By 10am on 9th July 2012 by email to maggie.aiken@southwarkpct.nhs.uk
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