Primary care and community nursing engagement with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is “getting better” but still remains variable.
Speaking at Management in Practice’s sister title Nursing in Practice’s event in Birmingham last week (13 November) Hilary Garratt, interim head of nursing, nurse commissioning and health improvement at the NHS Commissioning Board, said the level of involvement of primary care and community nurses in the reforms is dependent on the “maturity” of the CCG.
Her words come following a show of hands among nurses attending the event reveal around a fifth know what CCGs are and a meagre six nurses know which CCG they belong to.
Once the nursing representative is made available to local primary care and community nurses, Garratt claimed “stronger connections” can be made.
“Some CCGs haven’t got their substantive nurse in post yet but I am working with all those in post on CCGs and local area teams (LATs) to make sure they reach out and connect to their nursing communities,” she said.
Garratt insisted that engagement of the membership communities is a big priority for CCGs but the “pace” of engagement and “maturity” of the organisation will dictate the level of involvement and influence of frontline NHS staff in decision making.
