A month at the CCG!

24th August- 28th August 2015

I have officially worked one month at the CCG and it has flown by!

At the beginning of the week the Communications and Public Engagement team asked me to write an article for the local newspapers on behalf of a GP with the focus on high blood pressure, which will be published as part of the weekly 'Health Matters' column. The article was written in time for 'Know Your Numbers week!', a campaign designed to raise awareness of high blood pressure whereby participating pharmacies around England are giving free blood pressure tests. This was enjoyable to write as I learnt a great deal of new knowledge on blood pressure and it has also helped improve my writing skills! I am keen to get more involved with the Communications and Engagement team as my degree at university is in Business and Marketing so I am particularly interested to understand how the CCG promotes the organisation and engages with the public.

I’ve also been reviewing further CQUIN evidence reports for Quarter 1 (Commissioning for Quality and Innovation), though this time for CWP, our leading mental health provider.  I also attended my first ECT Service Quality Review meeting which is a monthly meeting involving members of the Trust updating the CCG on the quality of the services and any other quality concerns.

In addition to this, I have started working on Contracts which are a large responsibility of the CCG. The CCG is responsible for hundreds of contracts within Eastern Cheshire. It is extremely interesting to see how hospitals and other providers are paid through tariffs or block contracts which are similar to a price list for each procedure carried out by the hospital. I have been given the responsibility of assisting Sally who works in the contracts team with drawing up 8 contracts for an ophthalmology service.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first month at the CCG and I am continuously understanding the crucial role that the CCG plays within the local health economy.