Regular readers will be aware of the ongoing tussle between the writ of the Secretary of State and that of David Nicholson, CEO of the National Commissioning Board. Over the last year readers will have recognised that this takes a number of forms, and one that takes place regularly continues to be the amount of freedom that clinical commissioning groups have and will have to select the support they need in their commissioning role – and from which organisations they can obtain it.
The Secretary of State thinks back to the golden days of the White Paper in July 2010 when the new GP led commissioning organisations that he wanted to set up as autonomous organisations would be able to choose the sort of assistance that they wanted from whatever organisations they wished.
