NHS England may allow CCGs to take over their CSUs according to the Health Service Journal (HSJ). If this proposal goes ahead it would mean CSUs would remain in the public sector and not the private sector which was the original long term plan for the support units.
We understand that the transfer of CSU ownership to CCGs is one of a number of options being discussed by NHS England for the future of CSUs. Other options include setting up support service providers as social enterprises or allowing GP co-operatives to take them over. According to HSJ a private sector take over still remains an option.
The CCG ownership model of a CSU is being considered as a possible option for NHS Anglia CSU whose managing director and finance chief were replaced by NHS England in April.
Food for thought. Only recently did NHS England issue a letter to CCGs to advise them that the deadline for tendering commissioning support services will now be pushed back until April 2016. The original deadline only issued two months ago set the target date for formally procuring commissioning support services as September 2014.