A major reorganisation of the NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside is being proposed.
Currently, our region’s NHS is organised into nine Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which plan and buy healthcare services for their local areas.
Under this proposal, the more than 2.5m residents of the nine boroughs which make up Cheshire and Merseyside will have their healthcare services commissioned by just one authority.
If approved, the new singular CCG for Cheshire and Merseyside could be in place by April 2022.
It is hoped that consolidating the different commissioning groups into one will help to share ideas across the region, tackle health inequalities and improve the lives of the poorest fastest.
Wirral councillors at last night’s meeting of the authority’s Partnerships Committee were broadly supportive of the idea, but wanted to make sure that democratic oversight of the NHS would remain.
Labour councillor Christina Muspratt said the number of residents covered by the change was huge and that although she saw the logic behind the proposal, many people do not even know about it and we need to find out what they think.
Cllr Lesley Rennie, who represents Wallasey for the Conservatives, said she would welcome the change as long as it does not result in the “local link” between the NHS and councils being lost.
Lib Dem councillor Dave Mitchell and Labour's Christine Spriggs made similar points about the contribution of ordinary people and councils to the way the NHS currently functions at a local level.
Wirral Council’s director of adult’s care and health and strategic commissioning, Graham Hodkinson, said he was not aware of exactly how the consultation will work because this is an NHS matter rather than a council one.
But Mr Hodkinson added that he thinks there will have to be a process of public consultation given the scale of the proposed merger.
A report by the chief officer of NHS Wirral CCG, Simon Banks, said the emphasis on health inequalities was important.
In the summer, it was revealed that there is a life expectancy gap of up to 12 years between different parts of the borough. In particular, several wards in the Birkenhead area languished behind wealthier wards in West Wirral.
Find out how many Covid-19 cases there are in your area by adding your postcode below
For Mr Banks it served as a reminder that the regional partnership is not NHS-led but a broad coalition of local authorities, voluntary organisations and other vital organisations who enjoy parity.
Labour councillor Stuart Whittingham asked if there would be any measures in place to stop this new commissioner from pursuing a large-scale privatisation of the region’s NHS services.
Mr Banks indicated that there would be, as the part of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act which pushes commissioners towards competitive tendering will not be part of the new organisation’s brief.
