The configuration of the new local NHS organisations – 212 CCGs and 27 NHS Commissioning Board local area teams – has been agreed.
The list of proposed CCGs, which replace the 50 PCT clusters, is divided into four application waves spread over the next five months.
The 27 NHSCB branches replace the 28 SHAs and represent an ‘upward delegation’ of their responsibilities.
These new commissioning authorities now cover the whole of England.
The NHSCB Authority has published the geography, names and member practices of the proposed CCGs. Once the Board is established as a statutory body, it will approve these details.
Each proposed CCG has been assigned to one of four application waves for authorisation: 35 in wave 1 (July 2012), 70 in wave 2 (September), 67 in wave 3 (October) and 40 in wave 4 (November).
The 27 NHSCB local area teams (LATs) are likely to comprise three in London and seven to nine in each of the three regions North, South and Midlands and East.
Each local team will include an overall director and medical, nursing and finance directors, as well as general managers.
According to the Health Service Journal, 28 area teams were planned – but in order to avoid comparisons with the previous 28 SHAs, one was dropped.
Around 10 LATs will commission specialised services on behalf of several other LATs, while a few LATs will take a national lead in specialised areas such as optometry and military health.
The teams will be formed from staff members appointed to the NHSCB in the coming months.
The NHSCB’s annual running cost budget has been agreed at £527m.
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