Proposed merger between Kent CCGs dropped

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens had previously cautioned against group mergers.

A spokesman for NHS England had told HSJ that because CCGs had only been established 18 months ago it would “generally support stability rather than CCG mergers”.

Ashford CCG and Canterbury and Coastal CCG had put forward a case for merger in September, had consulted GP practices and it was supported by the CCGs’ staff.

They had wanted to merge to stave off future financial risks, strengthen clinical involvement and avoid duplicating work.

The CCGs already share a senior leadership team.

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Mark Jones and Navin Kumta, chairs of Canterbury and Coastal and Ashford CCGs respectively, said that since submitting their proposal there had been a “number of policy statements” which had made the case for merger “more difficult”.

They added: “We have therefore agreed with NHS England that we will not continue with our current merger plans at the present time. Instead we will develop collaborative arrangements based on new legislation announced on 1 October 2014 which allow more flexibility.”

The Legislative Reform (Clinical Commissioning Groups) Order 2014 allows CCGs to form joint committees to make decisions that cut across geographical boundaries.  

The chairs added that if the “new arrangements prove insufficient” then they will hold “further discussions with NHS England to see if a new merger application would be appropriate”.