New boss hails improved performance of Wigan health organisation

NHS Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which has responsibility for GP, dental and some specialist hospital services, has improved its NHS England leadership rating from “requires improvement” to “good” with “outstanding” features.

After several years with significant changes to its senior leadership, the CCG lost its previous “good” rating in 2018/19, but has now regained it for 2019/20.

It comes as a delighted Prof Craig Harris celebrates his first anniversary as managing director and accountable officer.

He said: “When I joined in July 2019, I took the NHS England framework as a starting point for improving the CCG. I knew that by facing the challenges head on and identifying the issues, we could return Wigan Borough’s CCG to the great rating it deserves and be in the best position for commissioning high quality local services for residents.

“This year we will be focusing hard on tackling the remaining areas to achieve an ‘outstanding’ overall. I would like to thank the whole CCG staff and team for really embracing change and putting patients first during the last 12 months. This really is a whole team achievement.”

The NHS England review of CCGs’ leadership looks at elements such as: capability and capacity of the leadership, quality services, governance and leading the transformation of local services.

Areas of significant improvement included: moving from requires improvement to outstanding in having a clear vision and credible strategy, having leaders with the right capability and experience to effectively manage, and moving from requires improvement to good in the financial management areas.

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