Health and wellbeing boards

NHS structure

In 2013 the NHS underwent a major transformation. The information below explains the new NHS and its core structure.

The Secretary of State for Health

The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the work of the Department of Health (DH). DH provides strategic leadership for public health, the NHS and social care in England.

The Department of Health

The Department of Health (DH) is responsible for strategic leadership and funding for both health and social care in England. The DH is a ministerial department, supported by 23 agencies and public bodies.

NHS England

NHS England is an independent body, at arm’s length to the government. It's main role is to improve health outcomes for people in England. It:

provides national leadership for improving outcomes and driving up the quality of care

oversees the operation of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)

allocates resources to CCGs

commissions primary care and specialist services

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)

Clinical commissioning groups replaced primary care trusts (PCTs) on April 1 2013. CCGs are clinically led statutory NHS bodies responsible for the planning and commissioning of healthcare services for their local area. CCGs members include GPs and other clinicians such as nurses and consultants. They are responsible for about 60% of the NHS budget and commission most secondary care services such as:

planned hospital care

rehabilitative care

urgent and emergency care (including out-of-hours)

most community health services

mental health and learning disability services

CCGs can commission any service provider that meets NHS standards and costs. These can be NHS hospitals, social enterprises, charities or private sector providers. However, they must be assured of the quality of services they commission, taking into account both National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) data about service providers.

Both NHS England and CCGs have a duty to involve their patients, carers and the public in decisions about the services they commission.

Health and wellbeing boards

Every "upper tier" local authority has established a health and wellbeing board to act as a forum for local commissioners across the NHS, social care, public health and other services. The boards are intended to:

increase democratic input into strategic decisions about health and wellbeing services

strengthen working relationships between health and social care

encourage integrated commissioning of health and social care services

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1172