The Integrator: Can councils be true partners in ICS?
Insider tales and must-read analysis on how integration is reshaping health and care systems, NHS providers, primary care, and commissioning. This week by commissioning correspondent, Sharon Brennan.
ICS forced to agree new governance after council quits
Health leaders in one of the first wave of “integrated care systems” have been forced to agree new ad hoc ways of working with a council, after it formally quit the partnership, it has emerged.
Driving forward system working: a tale of two systems
Providers and commissioners are coming forward to work together more strategically to deliver better outcomes for their local populations, say Dr Gordon Macmillan and Dr Chirag Bakhai
'Advanced' health economy to share finance officer
An “advanced” health economy has appointed a joint chief finance officer to work across its three commissioners.
CCGs appoint new chief officer
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Groups have appointed a new joint accountable officer, a key appointment as it bids to move towards an integrated care system model.
Commissioners look again at trust's 'fragile' services
NHS England and local commissioners want to look again at “fragile” clinical services run by Bedford Hospital Trust – less than a year after the provider committed to retaining its emergency and obstetrics departments.
Exclusive: Councils threaten to quit leading STP
Local authorities from a leading health economy have threatened to quit working with its STP as they say it “cannot legitimately claim to be working towards an integrated system.”
Leading health system will not become 'full' ICS this year
A leading health system will not become a “fully operational” integrated care system this year as hoped, instead remaining in “shadow” form.
Trust given two-year contract after private provider collapse
A two year patient transport contract was awarded to an ambulance trust, after it said it would not otherwise be able to provide short term support, it has emerged.
ACS commissioning group re-enters special measures after seven months
A large clinical commissioning group – which is part of a proposed accountable care system – has been put back in financial special measures, less than a year after coming out of the regime.
Outstanding trust loses £16m contract to charity
An outstanding rated trust has failed in its bid to renew a five year health and wellbeing contract in Bedfordshire.
CCG and council to merge commissioning budgets
A clinical commissioning group and local council have agreed to merge health commissioning budgets so the cash strapped organisations can spend their funds “most effectively”.
Mapped: Cash-strapped CCGs fail to hit spending standard
EXCLUSIVE: Commissioners facing deficits or struggling to balance their books are the most likely to be failing to meet the national mental health spending mandate.
Exclusive: Where mental health spending misses national target
Four sustainability and transformation plan regions have failed to raise mental health spending as mandated by national leaders, HSJ can reveal.
New urgent care deal covers only part of STP patch
Two clinical commissioning groups in Bedfordshire have jointly contracted with a new integrated urgent care service, appearing to call into question how a major proposal in the area’s STP will be delivered.
Midlands STP plans 'unified leadership' for three hospitals
The STP for Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes reveals plans for “unified leadership, management and operations across all three hospitals” on the patch, but states that the three will not formally merge.
CCGs: Hospital trust should lose major services
RECONFIGURATION: Bedford Hospital Trust should be stripped of major services including obstetrics and the majority of its emergency surgical care as part of a local service reconfiguration, a review has recommended.
CCGs mull 'ban' on third party drug ordering
Clinical commissioning groups in south Staffordshire are considering a clampdown on community pharmacies ordering prescriptions on behalf of their patients, following a spike in spending on prescription items.
FT chief named as NHS England urgent and emergency care lead
Pauline Philip, chief executive of Luton and Dunstable University Hospital Foundation Trust, is joining NHS England on secondment as national urgent and emergency care director.
Value in Healthcare Awards: Value and Improvement in Procurement
Value in Healthcare Awards winners for 2015