This collection of case studies is aimed at all people involved in the development and delivery of quality health services, in particular, commissioners, local authorities, voluntary sectors, and health professionals in all settings, including primary and secondary care. Some of the CCGs are also working with organisations from the retail sector, for example John Lewis.

Membership organisation

The report has been written to coincide with the first anniversary of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), demonstrating their important role in “leading improvement and innovation in the NHS”. The case studies have been collected by the NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC), “the independent collective voice of clinical commissioning groups”, a membership organisation where people working for CCGs, can share experiences and build on good practice. The organisation is still under development, but coming soon will be networks, tools and resources, to support the work of the CCGs.

Case studies

There are 15 case studies from CCGs across England included in this report covering topics such as:

• Mental health service provision in primary care
• Development of minor injuries services
• Seven-day consultant care
• Falls prevention
• Integrated health and social care
• Community engagement
• Care home service improvement
• Reducing unnecessary hospital admissions
• Palliative care service improvements
• Short stay reductions

Each case study describes the problem and the model applied to resolve the issue. There is some commentary about why the model works, for example, the professional traits required by staff, in particular management teams. Seamless working with voluntary organisations appears to be another requirement for success of these initiatives. These activities aim focus on the patient and carers, ensuring that services are developed to become more patient-centric. There are sound-bites throughout, where clinical leaders describe their aims and achievements.

This is an important document because the launch of the CCGs was part of a major NHS restructure and these case studies demonstrate the effect they have had on improvement and innovation.

Commentary

Seeing examples where interventions have worked successfully makes it easier to envisage what would work in your own organisations, and can inspire your teams to think of innovative ways of improving service delivery to patients and carers. The case studies provide examples of how various clinical commissioning groups around the country have improved services, for different care settings, primary, secondary, palliative etc, so there should be an example from which all CCGs can learn. Think about the priorities in your area, and see if you can adapt one or more of these case studies to suit your local needs.

Link

Taking the lead: How clinical commissioning groups are changing the face of the NHS (PDF)
NHS Clinical Commissioners
January 2014

Related links

NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC)