Commissioning Board to maintain CSS duties

The NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) looks set to continue its responsibilities in supporting and developing commissioning support services (CSS).

The end of the formal assurance process has now been passed, however the NHS CB aims to ensure staff are not transferred to bodies and organisations likely to fail in the future.

Continued support from the Board, which will officially employ CSS staff until 2016, aims to ensure organisations are successful and sustainable moving forward.

During the development of CSSs, the groups were set to be tested by the NHS CB on their intentions to become independent organisations during the third checkpoint. These plans have now been dropped in favour of a report being produced on how each CSS will function when independently led.

The news has come as a set back to the private sector with firms such as UnitedHealth, Capita, Ernst and Young and McKinsey hoping to establish partnerships with CSS.

The financial plans of CSS – which were expected to happen during ‘checkpoint three – have also been delayed by the NHS CB. The Board believes support organisations will be unable to guarantee income streams until they begin working alongside clinical commissioning groups – which cannot start until the assurance process has ended.