Last week (14 March 2013) saw the NHS CB authorise 48 CCGs in the fourth and final wave of authorisation bringing the total to 211. However only 20% of all CCGs have been authorised without conditions with only weeks left before they take on their commissioning responsibilities on 1 April. The 211 CCGs will replace the 152 PCTs which are to be abolished along with SHAs on 31 March 2013. They will have a budget of £65million to commission services for their local population.
Of the 211 CCGs authorised 43 were fully authorised without conditions which means that they met all 119 criteria. The remaining 168 CCGs were authorised with conditions of which 15 were issued with legal directions meaning that the commissioning board or a neighbouring CCGs will exercise some functions for them.
The NHS CB are in the process of re-assessing all the CCGs that were authorised in the previous three waves and the board expects that many of these CCGs to be able to discharge any conditions placed on their authorisation. CCGs authorised in wave four will be reviewed in June 2013.