Identifying CCG websites – halfway there!

Thanks to HMI contributors Che Seymour and Duarte Varela, we are now halfway to recording websites for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

The spreadsheet can be found here. It contains details on:

  • The CCG’s website news page
  • RSS feed
  • Twitter account
  • Board details URL
  • Freedom of Information details

Many CCGs don’t yet have a website, of course, as the authorisation process is still taking place and will not be completed until next Spring.

We’re hoping that compiling and sharing this information will make it easier to send FOI requests, as well as possibly leading to a ‘news scraper’ that brings together news from all CCGs into one convenient feed.

If you want to add to or update the details, please get in touch.

Useful health links for October 30th to November 19th

Here are the health-related links that have caught our eyes between October 30th and November 19th:

  • BBC News – Consultants warn care hit by poor deals on supplies – For this investigation, Ernst and Young looked at 10 NHS hospital trusts out of 166 – and found the prices paid for the same box of medical forceps ranged from £13 to £23.

    For an identical box of blankets the lowest price was £47, the highest more than £120.

  • CCG constitutions – frequently asked questions – Guidance from law firm Hill Dickinson
  • Jimmy Savile scandal shows mental health inpatient voice is crucial | Society | The Guardian – Is it any wonder, then, that the last CQC survey of psychiatric inpatients in 2009 found that fewer than half of them reported always feeling safe on psychiatric wards? And yet they have abolished the only means by which many patients can express their concerns and hope to be listened to.

    It is only in numbers that the ignored can hope to make an impression. When the first few women began to speak up about Savile's behaviour, his nephew, Roger Foster, was brutally dismissive, describing himself as "disgusted and disappointed" that such claims were being made. With a further 300 people now stepping forward, his tone has changed markedly.

    The charity, Rethink Mental Illness, has launched an e-campaign to persuade the government to reintroduce the mental health inpatient survey. It can be accessed via its website rethink.org, and I would urge you to sign it.

  • Changes to the GP contract for 2013-14 | Department of Health – These proposals have been sent to the British Medical Association for consideration and include:

    new measures to improve care for patients with long term conditions and help prevent unnecessary emergency admissions to hospital
    ensuring that quality rewards for GPs reflect expert advice, from NICE, so that patients receive the very best care in line with the most up to date evidence
    stopping additional rewards for organisational tasks like good record keeping, which should be part of any good health organisation. This money will instead go into rewarding the quality of services that GPs offer patients.
    ensuring that more patients benefit from best practice in areas such as keeping blood pressure low and reducing cholesterol levels, especially those in most need or hardest to reach.

  • HSJ Briefing: general practice services and policy – The DH also last week set out to make significant changes to the quality and outcomes framework. If they are enforced, practices would have to provide a new set of enhanced services, directed by the DH and NHS Commissioning Board, to continue earning the same income. They would also be required to step up performance on QOF measures, many of which are focused on population health and prevention.

    The department has not said what the new enhanced services would be but it is expected they would include:

    A requirement to risk-stratify their population for likelihood of illness and deterioration, and provide support/attention to them
    Improving services for those with chronic conditions and for older people
    Promotion of patients’ self care, including through access to their own records.

Health news roundup for October 5th to October 29th

Here are the health-related links that have caught our eyes between October 5th and October 29th:

  • The Green Benches: Virgin Care represent the greatest conflict of interest in the history of the NHS – The GP Practices in Virgin Care’s network get to keep 50% of the profits they make. The total budgets over a 5 year period that these 21 CCGs are responsible for is £27.5 bn and this places an extraordinary amount of power in the hands of doctors linked to Virgin Care. See a full list of the committees and details below. I include a 5 year figure because many of the contracts they will award will be of that length. The spreadsheet I have created below lists the 21 CCGs on which doctors, who work in Virgin Care medical practices, have been mentioned in the CCG board minutes as connected with that CCG. For substantiation, click on any links you seen in green or writing that appears between brackets. Continue reading

The role of local councils in scrutinising clinical commissioning

A parliamentary written answer from Anna Soubry MP provides some useful information for those interested in the lines of accountability of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

In short, this involves consulting with the local authority’s health and wellbeing board, which in turn can report to the NHS Commissioning Board if it is not happy (which can in turn take action). The health and wellbeing board is also accountable itself to the local authority’s scrutiny committee, for which you can find details by adapting this search for your own local council site.

Here’s Anna Soubry’s answer in full: Continue reading

What’s your local CCG doing? A quick guide

Philip John is one of the users of Help Me Investigate looking at his local clinical commissioning group (CCG), for which there isn’t much information (there isn’t even a website).

Here’s why: CCGs are being authorised in four waves, which take place from this month through to March 2013. In addition to those four waves, there are dozens of CCGs which were already operating as ‘pathfinder’ groups – in other words, pilots.

You can find out which wave your CCG is in by searching for it in this document (PDF). Continue reading

25 clinical commissioning-related accounts on Twitter

Twitter bird icon - CCG twitter links

Having previously identified 20 useful sources for CCG-related news, here are 25 Twitter accounts to follow if you want to know what’s happening with clinical commissioning: Continue reading

Can you help investigate? Realise Health Ltd, Wivenhoe Council, and an unusual planning decision

This month it emerged that Wivenhoe Town Council had held a secret meeting with Realise Health Ltd (RHL) to discuss a change in location for a proposed new surgery.

Wivenhoe is a North Essex town with a population of just over 10,000. The current surgery is based in a converted bungalow. It also serves the nearby village of Alresford, which has a population of over 2,000 residents. A new health centre has been needed for over fifteen years.

In February Wivenhoe Town Council announced that NHS North Essex had finally signed off a £1.5m funding bid from the surgery.

A site that was relatively central in the town was stated as the location, subject to the successful purchase from the private landowner.

No further news emerged during the monthly Town Council meetings.

Realise Health Ltd (RHL) is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the aim of securing contracts to build health facilities in North Essex. The company falls under the wider structure of Mill Asset Management, a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) that provides financial management for PFI and PPP projects.

The new location, Cook’s Shipyard, that was discussed behind closed doors has raised concerns from local residents. Cook’s Shipyard is inaccessible by public transport. Access is limited via a narrow stretch of old Victorian properties. Parking is at a premium.

Although Wivenhoe Town Council has offered no minutes on the meeting with RHL, it has emerged that lawyers have already been instructed on the new land acquisition.

A pre-planning meeting has taken place with the local authority and the District Valuer has opened his file.

All of this activity has been taking place without the residents of Wivenhoe being informed. No information has been offered as to why the previous site is now unsuitable; it is unclear as to who owns the new preferred site and what the conditions of sale are that make it preferable.

The concern is that this new location is being pushed through ahead of the introduction of the new Clinical Commissioning Group. Residents fear that the hushed up deal will be offered as a Hobson’s Choice: accept the second best option now before the CCG takes control, or lose the new health centre altogether.

I am interested in working with others using Help Me Investigate and the hyperlocal Wivenhoe Forum to find out why residents weren’t informed of this new deal, and why there is such an urgency to make it happen ahead of the phasing out of the Primary Care Trust.

If you want to help or have some expertise that might be useful, please get in touch via paul@helpmeinvestigate.com, this form, or the contact details below:

Jason Cobb
Twitter: Jason_Cobb
http://about.me/jasoncobb

20 places to keep up to date on clinical commissioning and CCGs

RSS icon

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For our latest investigation into clinical commissioning (help still needed!) we’ve put together a starting list of 20 feeds to follow developments surrounding Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – and we’ve put them together into one convenient bundle which you can follow with one click here (Google account needed). Can you suggest others?

Here they are: Continue reading

Volunteers needed! scrutinising CCGs

CCG structure image from BBC

This year a collection of new groups will be given responsibility for £60bn of public health spending in England: Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

With over 200 of these groups and very few health journalists in the UK there’s an opportunity for student journalists and concerned citizens to play a key role in understanding what CCGs do – and scrutinising their activities.

There are a number of potential avenues to explore, from concerns about potential conflicts of interest in the new arrangements, to issues of accountability, whistleblowing, and efficiency.

In partnership with a number of news organisations and universities, we’re building a network of journalists, students and citizens to start pulling together information, exchanging tips and leads, and pursuing questions in the public interest.

If you want to get involved, contact me on paul@helpmeinvestigate.com or add your name via the form here.

*image from the BBC

Health news roundup for September 19th

Here are the health-related links that have caught our eyes between July 12th and September 19th: