Accountable to whom, for what? An exploration of the early development of Clinical Commissioning Groups in the English NHS.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

One of the key goals of the current reforms in the English National Health Service (NHS) under the Health and Social Care Act, 2012, is to increase the accountability of those responsible for commissioning care for patients (clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)), while at the same time allowing them a greater autonomy. This study was set out to explore CCG's developing accountability relationships.

Design

We carried out detailed case studies in eight CCGs, using interviews, observation and documentary analysis to explore their multiple accountabilities.

Setting/participants

We interviewed 91 people, including general practitioners, managers and governing body members in developing CCGs, and undertook 439 h of observation in a wide variety of meetings.

Res

SUBMITTER: Checkland K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3863120 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature