Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit launches

A new organisation which supports local delivery of healthcare to Greater Manchester’s 2.8million residents launches today (April 2).

Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit (GMCSU) offers a range of professional services to Clinical Commissioning Groups, the newly-formed healthcare organisations run by groups of GPs.

In July 2010, the government announced that the NHS locally would be re-structured, with Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) to be replaced by a new system, led by clinicians.

From this the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were born. CCGs are groups of GPs that will, from April 2013, be responsible for designing local health services in England. They will do this by commissioning or buying health and care services, such as community health and hospital care.

In Greater Manchester there are 12 CCGs and these are based in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale; Manchester (North, Central and South); Stockport; Tameside and Glossop; Oldham; Bury; Salford; Bolton; Trafford and Wigan.

Much of the expertise from the former PCTs and SHAs has been dispersed among the new CCGs and new supporting organisations, known as Commissioning Support Units (CSUs).

Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit (GMCSU) is a 550-strong team of NHS and industry experts. It has an in-depth knowledge of the NHS and local authorities, as well as significant commercial experience.

It offers a comprehensive range of professional support services which are tailored to the 12 CCGs across Greater Manchester, including services such as medicines management, finance and health service redesign.

Many of GMCSU’s people are based in CCG locations, supporting colleagues to deliver the best possible services for the people they serve, some 2.8million across the area.

Led by MD Leigh Griffin, who explains: “GMCSU is building a culture of enterprise, excellence and innovation with a continual focus on meeting customers’ evolving needs. We will provide expert and cost effective services, enabling our customers to delivery excellent health services, supported by professional and values-led people”.

Christine Morgan, Chairwoman of GMCSU said “We have an incredible pool of talented people that have come from the NHS and in particular Primary Care Trusts. The majority are very experienced NHS people who bring a wealth of knowledge and advice. The expertise and local insight of the people enables customers to improve the health and wellbeing of their local communities”.