The Harrogate and Rural District Clinical Commissioning Group (HaRD CCG) has today (Thursday 21 February 2013) received full authorisation as a statutory NHS organisation.
This is the third wave of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to be authorised by the national NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) signalling they are ready to take on their statutory role of commissioning health services for patients in their local communities from April 2013.
Amanda Bloor, (pictured) Chief Officer of NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG, said:
We are delighted to have been authorised to take responsibility of NHS commissioning for our area after what was a very rigorous assessment.
Our vision is to secure high quality services, in the most appropriate setting, making maximum use of available resources. Through clinical leadership and collaborative working we aim to achieve the best possible health outcomes for all our local population.
We have already been busy working with our providers of healthcare, local voluntary sector organisations and patient groups in the district to start shaping services that are fit for the future. We look forward to continuing this work as we assume control of NHS spending on hospital, community and mental health services.
About Harrogate and Rural District CCG
- Harrogate and Rural District Clinical Commissioning Group is the new clinically-led organisation taking over responsibility for buying most NHS services for the Harrogate district from April 2013
- These services include hospital, community and mental health services
- The CCG covers a population of around 160,000 and represents 19 GP practices.
- The CCG’s commissioning budget for 2013/14 is around £173 million
- Dr Alistair Ingram, a Ripon-based GP, is the Clinical Chair of the CCG. Amanda Bloor is the Chief Officer and the accountable officer of the CCG. They are part of the CCG’s Governing Body comprising a number of other local GPs, senior managers, health professionals and lay members.
For more information about HaRD CCG visit www.harrogateandruraldistrictccg.nhs.uk
Background information about authorisation and CCGs
Clinical commissioning groups are groups of GP practices which will be responsible from April 2013 for commissioning most hospital and community health services for people living in their areas. Under the Health and Social Care Act, every GP practice will be a member of a CCG.
There are 211 proposed CCGs and authorisation is split into four waves:
- 34 CCGs in wave 1
- 67 in wave 2
- 62 in wave 3 (announced today)
- 48 in wave 4.
The list of which CCGs are in which wave can be seen here
Wave 1 CCGs were authorised in December 2012 and wave 2 in January 2013. The remaining outcome decisions will be made in March 2013.
CCGs will be responsible collectively annually for approximately £60-£65 billion of the NHS budget. The total CCG budget for 2013/14 is £63.4 billion.
Emerging CCGs are already making a difference to local health and care services: the first ‘pathfinders’ were set up in December 2010 and many have been operating in shadow form for the last year.
