Challenges of the Acronym Shuffle – NHS PCTs to CCGs

By Claire Sexton

During the last couple of months I have visited a number of my NHS customers to catch up on all of the latest changes that they are going through with the switch from PCTs to CCGs. NHS professionals across the country have spent the last 6 to 12 months working towards the deadline day of 1^st April 2013 when Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) would be no more and instead all commissioning activities would be transferred to the newly formed Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and their supporting commissioning support providers.

To say it has been a rollercoaster of activity would be an understatement; there are lots of changes in resource as individuals are being moved across organisations and there are plenty of challenges in terms of finalising the relationships between CCGs, CSUs and the local acute Trusts, whilst endeavouring to ensure that the focus remains on the quality of care provided and a ‘business as usual’ approach is maintained as much as possible.

Acknowledging these challenges and the understandable anticipation from the many impacted, I am pleased to say that whilst it is going to take a while to settle down, the general feedback from my contacts is that the 12 to 18 months of preparation in expectation of the change has paid off, and they are now embracing the opportunities to collaborate, standardise and improve efficiencies.

I read an article earlier this week in the HSJ that considers some of the issues and challenges that the CCGs are likely to face in these early days.....it’s well worth a read (for those of you that are interested!)

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