Speaking on 28 May, NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said: "This is a very useful survey which shows that, overall, most commissioning support services are working successfully with clinical commissioning groups to meet their commissioning support needs."
Responding to a survey of clinical commissioning groups and commissioning support services for the Clinical Commissioning Coalition, he said: "PCTs and the emerging clinical support services (CSSs) deserve credit for working hard in a relatively short space of time to get up and running to offer the kind of support that CCGs want.
Journey
"The journey has not been easy for CSSs that have been subjected to significant scrutiny so they meet the necessary service quality standards.
Vital component
"CSSs will be a vital component of ensuring the NHS reforms are successful so it is pleasing to see that the overwhelming majority of CSSs have raised their game, focused on the CCG as a customer and continue to improve their offer.”
Opportunity
"There is an opportunity now to use the data from the survey to work on the areas that need improvement so CSSs are ready to succeed - offering truly innovative services based on strong business relationships with CCGs in an open marketplace."
