CCGs were created as part of the Health and Social Care Act of 2012.  There are over 200 CCGs across England comprising of GPs, other clinicians and NHS managers. They are led by GPs, and were created with the goal of including GPs at the heart of the decision making process, to improve the quality of the primary care and services delivered to patients at a local level.

Though only recently launched CCGs have come a long way in their first year, becoming the centre of the most recent NHS transformation. Year one has seen CCGs overcome the sceptics and embed themselves in the healthcare system. Their hard work and early success has led to fundamental change across the local NHS and the vision for further reforms in the coming years. Much of the success of CCGs has come from the leadership of local commissioners who have identified a direct need for change at a local level.

CCGs look here to stay, and year two will see NHS England affording more control to CCGs to work together with primary care commissioning services to get the most out of their budgets. But what does the next year have in store for CCGs? What are the key challenges? Where do they need to spend their budgets and how can they consolidate on their early success?

A recent study conducted by the Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund, looking to understand the development of  CCGs at the heart of NHS reforms, found that while GPs feel they have more of an impact under CCGs than they did PCT’s, still less than half felt they could significantly influence the work of the CCG. During year two a concerted effort needs to be made by CCGs to engage with their member GPs, to keep the momentum and enthusiasm behind the growth of CCG organisations and foster long term sustainability. 

The benefits of overcoming this challenge is something IE knows only too well. We recently worked with Brighton and Hove CCG, introducing a new visual identity and building a website that can be updated regularly with new content. The dual purpose web solution, with both public facing content and a member’s area for GP’s, has enabled Brighton and Hove CCG to both engage with local patients and build a sense of community amongst its members.

IE’s site has proved compelling and engaging, and the social media integration has encouraged users to interact with web content.

"IE has again created a really vibrant, attractive, user friendly, engaging web presence... a pleasure to work with... not just creatively and technically excellent but thoroughly professional and well planned."

STEVE CRIBB, Clinical Commissioning Champion, BRIGHTON & HOVE CCG

Contact our digital experts to find out how investing into your digital platform can help your CCG meet objectives in year two.