Clinical Commissioning Groups

NHS Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire currently has three Clinical Commissioning Groups within its area.

Nene Commissioning formed in 2007. It covers 71 practices in the county, and over 350 GPs. The Chair is Dr Darin Seiger. For more information and contact details, please go to their website www.nenecommissioning.com.

Corby Healthcare includes all GP practices in Corby covering around 67,000 patients. The interim Chair is Dr Peter Wilczynski who can be contacted on peter.wilczynski@nhs.net.

The Oundle Surgery and Wansford & Kings Cliffe practice have joined the Borderline Commissioning Group which is based in Cambridgeshire.

MK Commissioning includes all 28 GP practices in the Milton Keynes area. The Co-Chairs are Dr Nicola Smith and Dr Ahmed Nasiri. For more information and contact details, please go to their website www.mkcommissioning.co.uk.

The government’s Health and Social Care Bill includes plans to hand the annual NHS budget of around £80bn directly to family doctors who, it says, are better placed to decide which services are needed for their patients. By 2013 all GP practices in England will join with colleagues to become part of a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

All three CCGs have been given 'pathfinder' status by the Department of Health. This means they will be among the first in the country to take on more responsibility for managing health resources and other additional roles, usually overseen by the local Primary Care Trust. As pathfinders, they will test the new commissioning arrangements to ensure they are working well before more formal arrangements come into place. They will increasingly be able to use their budgets as they see fit during the development of the pathfinder programme.