Health & Social Care

The Interim CCG Assurance Framework for 2013/14, which will help NHS England, patients and the public identify how well Clinical Commissioning Groups are performing in their role as the commissioners of local health services, has been published.

In the first ever system-wide shared commitment, 12 of the national leaders of health and care have signed up to a series of commitments on how they will help local areas integrate services.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 sets out changes to the public health system, including ensuring that the public health system continues to have a highly skilled and motivated workforce across the three domains of public health, health protection, health promotion and healthcare public health.

From April 2013 local Healthwatch replaced the Local Involvement Networks (LINks) as the consumer voice in health and social care. It is important that local Healthwatch learns from the experience of the LINks to ensure they become the best they can be, and to prevent reinventing the wheel.