CCG premises will be passing to NHS Property Services (NHS PS) on 1 April 2013. NHS PS has stated that where accommodation is leased it will seek to pass down lease obligations to CCGs. Where it will have freehold property, it will make accommodation available on a 'cost recovery' basis. What this means in terms of hard cash is presently unclear. The model memorandum of occupation that CCGs will be expected to sign up to is yet to be published.
Apart from premises, PCTs have ownership of a varied array of furniture and equipment. Clearly, CCGs can expect to be receivers of the furniture and equipment relevant to the premises they will be operating from, although it has been left to local agreement whether this will actually be the case. In principle, NHS PS has indicated that it does not want to take ownership - but may be prepared to do so, presumably with the use of such furniture and equipped being included as a right in the memorandum of occupation.
At least as interesting will be the allocation of ownership of clinical equipment held by PCTs. Equipment can vary from relatively trivial items through to MRI scanners. To the extent that access to any such equipment is key future re-commissioning of services, CCGs need to be ensuring that they are receivers of such equipment. But as a word of caution, it is important to establish who currently has liabilities for repair maintenance and replacement of any high cost items. If any such liabilities will migrate to the receiver, the risk of ownership may out weigh the benefits.
Ultimately CCGs may have little say in what is allocated to them and engagement between PCTs and CCGs in compiling and verifying lists and receivers of equipment may have been limited. The deadline is upon us for final lists to be settled but there is a brief period (to 24 January) for corrections to be made and CCGs should, if they are not clear what they will be receiving should seek clarification from their PCT.