Health giants become one

THE Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit, which offers a range of professional services to the NHS, is due to merge with Cheshire and Merseyside later this year.

The two CSUs will come together on October 1 as the North-West CSU in an £80million merger and have been shortlisted to become a “lead provider” for NHS England’s commissioning support framework.

The Greater Manchester CSU currently offers a range services, such as medicines management, finance and health service redesign, to 12 Greater Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), including Oldham CCG.

The two organisations, which have extensive portfolios providing business, clinical and commissioning support to hospitals, local authorities, GP practices, NHS England and others, have passed the first phase of the procurement process for NHS England’s Lead Provider Framework (LPF).

The framework was developed by NHS England to aid clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the procurement of services for commissioning support.

It will provide access to a full range of health and social care support services in a fast, simple and cost effective manner, making it easier for CCGs and other customers to choose accredited supplier and securing a place on the framework is a quality mark from NHS England.

The two CSUs are continuing to work through the procurement process, which involves submitting an invitation to tender to NHS England by October 29 and the framework is expected to launch in January.
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