Date set for inaugural public meeting in North Lincolnshire

This meeting will be followed at 2pm by the CCG’s Governing Body meeting.

The Joint Commissioning Committee has been formed between the CCG and NHS England after the CCG’s submission to jointly commission primary care services in North Lincolnshire was approved on March 5 by NHS England.

The approval means that the CCG will have more say in the planning, development and implementation of local primary care services, working jointly with NHS England. Up to now, NHS England has held full responsibility for commissioning all primary care services in England.

Dr Margaret Sanderson, CCG Chair, explained how the new arrangement will benefit people in North Lincolnshire: “Taking on shared responsibility for commissioning GP services is a significant step towards being able to provide seamless care to patients across the local healthcare landscape, both in and out of hospital. Essentially it will give us more control over how all the different elements of the NHS work together for the benefit of patient care.

“Patients want good local services close to where they live. The greatest benefit will be the ability to commission integrated, out of hospital care, which crosses traditional boundaries for the benefit of our local population.”

The Committee will be chaired by Ian Reekie, who is also the CCG’s Governing Body Lay Member for Public and Patient Involvement.

The key items of business will include the ratification of the Committee’s Terms of Reference, the presentation of the policy for dealing with conflicts of interest and initial discussions around the commissioning budgets for primary care for 2015-16.

At 20pm, the CCG’s Governing Body will then meet in public. Agenda items include another update on the progress of Healthy Lives, Healthy Futures from Karen Jackson, Chief Executive of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, in her capacity as Lead Accountable Officer for the programme. There will also be regular reports on finance and performance and quality.

Members of the public are warmly invited to attend and, during a dedicated public questions time, there is an opportunity for people to put forward a question to the Governing Body members which is linked to the agenda or work of the CCG.

The agendas for both meetings and relevant papers will be available to view on the CCG web site the week preceding the meetings. Papers can be accessed here http://www.northlincolnshireccg.nhs.uk/the-board