'Commitment' promise from health bosses over plans for single Shropshire CCG
Health commissioners are committed to working with local authorities to allay concerns over plans to create a single CCG group covering Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, bosses have said.
Plans to dissolve both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups to form a new single organisation for the county is expected to happen by next April, if given the go-ahead by NHS bosses.
David Evans, chief officer for Telford & Wrekin CCG, was told about concerns surrounding the plans by members of Telford & Wrekin Council's health and wellbeing board during a recent meeting.
Councillor Andy Burford raised issues of accountability and the impact it might have for people in Telford and Wrekin, with the new organisation covering such a wide area.
Councillor Ian Fletcher echoed his fears, adding: "We are very concerned about this process and the effect it could have on the area of Telford and Wrekin."
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There have been fears voiced previously that conversations involving Telford would be 'watered down' under the control of a single organisation.
In response, Mr Evans said: "The commitment is there from both CCGs to include both local authority partners."
He said the concerns were shared across Shropshire, adding: "There is a general concern around, in that new larger organisation how do you ensure you protect that degree of localism. We want to make sure that works.
Challenging
"I'm very mindful what we've got to try and do here is create something that works for all of the populations that it serves.
"That's going to be challenging but part of the way we do that is to do work with local authorities in trying to get the right delivery model moving forward."
The final application to form the single organisation must be submitted this month.
Mr Evans told the health and wellbeing board that the timescale for creating it was 'challenging', but added: "We wanted to go quickly partly because we wanted to reduce anxiety and uncertainty for staff."
He said the new group's board would have three clinical representatives from member practices in Telford and Wrekin and three from Shropshire, making sure the areas were equally represented.
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCGs need to make cuts of 20 per cent to running costs to save £1.2 million.
Health bosses say the creation of a single body is to support the ambition of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Some say such changes should also be subject to public consultation, but CCG bosses say they have taken legal advice and it is not required.
