South West clusters draw up new specialised commissioning agreement

The SWSCG is responsible for overseeing the commissioning of specialised services (as defined by the National Specialised Services Definitions Set), together with a range of additional services where collaborative commissioning arrangements have been agreed between the 14 PCTs in the group.

The SCG’s work is governed by an establishment agreement, which details delegated responsibilities and the way in which the SCG will operate. 

From June 1, the 14 PCTs will be replaced by seven clusters so a new agreement has been drawn up.

A report to the board of NHS North Somerset states that under the new agreement:

§  Quoracy is set at five member organisations present

§  Where consensus has not been reached, and a decision needs to be made, votes will be cast based on the number of PCTs each cluster member represents (i.e. a cluster representing two PCTs would have two votes).  A decision will be considered to be carried where there are 8 or more positive votes cast

§  The Director of Specialised Commissioning (South Central) is retained as an attendee but does not retain (potentially casting) voting rights.

The PCT clusters represented on the board will be NHS Devon, NHS Plymouth and NHS Torbay; NHS Cornwall; NHS Dorset and NHS Bournemouth and Poole; NHS Somerset; NHS Bristol, NHS North Somerset and NHS South Gloucestershire; NHS Wiltshire and NHS Bath and North East Somerset; NHS Gloucestershire and NHS Swindon.