Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on public engagement in the NHS of the proposed merger of five clinical commissioning groups in the North East.

The clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are currently looking at different options as to how they can work together in the future to consolidate their current collaborative working arrangements. The emerging preferred option from the public, member, staff, partner and stakeholder engagement so far, is a single CCG in Durham, which would be co-terminus with the local authority and a single CCG in the Tees Valley (covering the Tees Combined Authority area) with a shared management arrangement.

The CCGs in Durham have been working together for some time with joint appointments since 2014 and ‘in-common’ meetings since May 2017. NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG and NHS North Durham CCG also have a shared lay member for patient and public participation.

Should the CCGs decide to progress the merger application at the end of August, a Communication and Engagement Strategy, which is currently in development, will be submitted with the application.