As a result of a great deal of hard work and commitment, the North East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (NELCCG) is one of the first in the country to enter into the authorisation process to become a fully- fledged CCG.

This means we are well on the way to becoming a fully operational CCG and the local commissioners of health and social care for North East Lincolnshire.

By 2013 all primary care trusts will be replaced by CCGs. Joining the “first wave” gives North East Lincolnshire the opportunity to be authorised earlier and get on with the “day job” of delivering health and social care outcomes among the best in the world rooted in the three principles of:

• Giving patients/service users more information and choice
• Focusing on health and care outcomes and quality standards, and
• Empowering frontline professionals with a strong leadership role.

The new North East Lincolnshire CCG website replaces the Care Trust Plus website, where all new information and updates are now available.  The Care Trust Plus website is available here for those needed to reference it.

What is the CCG and how is it different to the organisation currently doing this job?

Clinical Commissioning is all about putting the money that pays for healthcare in the hands of the people who are closest to the patient, the GPs.

The CCG is the group of GPs and other professionals in North East Lincolnshire that is currently taking forward this vision for a new National Health Service that is set out in the Health Bill.

Supported by other clinicians and NHS professionals such as finance and contracting specialists, GPs will directly commission care services currently paid for by North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus (NELCTP).

What makes GPs suitable to carry out this role?

Family doctors understand their patients, seeing them through different stages of their life and different periods of illness. This pivotal role gives the GP a unique view of the health and social care system that few other clinicians or NHS professionals possess.

When will things start to happen?

The North East Lincolnshire CCG has already taken responsibility for a large proportion of the CTP’s budget and its current priorities include helping families and local communities manage their own health and ensuring properly joined up health and social care services are available when needed. The CCG will build on close partnerships established by the CTP with partners such as North East Lincolnshire council to help make our region a great place to live and work.

What changes will I see?

GPs will have more opportunity to influence and develop services that are important to you as patients. Some examples of this are improving accessibility and making services closer to your community and ensuring the teams involved with your care communicate better and work more closely together. In other words, services will be designed around you rather than you having to fit around services.

Will it be harder to get to see my GP if he or she is involved in all this extra work?

Most of the GPs involved in the CCG will continue to spend the majority of their time working in their practice so you will still be able to see your family doctor as before. Some GPs who have particular knowledge of a specialist area – such as helping improve a particular service such as unplanned care or dementia, for example, – may have to be more closely involved in this for a limited time but this will all serve to benefit all patients in the long run.

Is this going to save money?

The changes to the NHS are not about saving money. The CCG will enable the NHS in North East Lincolnshire to use the money allocated from the Government to take care of our patients more efficiently with more benefits for the local community.

Finally, how do GPs themselves feel about this?

We’re fortunate in North East Lincolnshire that our local GPs are keen and enthusiastic to work on behalf of community. This makes us all extremely optimistic for the future.