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UK – NHS commissioning groups spending money to save money

07 July 2015

Saving money – rather than spending it – is a major factor in the recruitment of specialist contractors into the NHS, according to a new straw poll from healthcare recruitment firm Rethink Healthcare.

The poll found that all of the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) involved reported taking on contractors with the ability to improve efficiency and cost-saving initiatives playing a ‘major factor’ in their decision.

CCGs were set up by the NHS to organise the delivery of NHS services in England. They are clinically led groups that include all of the GP groups in their geographical area. The aim of this is to give GPs and other clinicians the power to influence commissioning decision for their patients.

Lewis Gould, team leader at ReThink Healthcare, commented: “While the NHS has been criticised for being wasteful in its staffing practices, these results highlight that CCGs are actually recruiting contractors in order to cut costs.”

“This may seem counter-intuitive. After all, we usually see organisations lowering headcount in challenging times. However, the skills provided by professionals in procurement and project management roles, to name just a few, actually help to reduce costs and make the NHS into a more efficient outfit.”

“This obviously isn’t the only reason contractors are being taken on, however all CCGs reported that this played a major factor in their hiring decision. We all know that the health service is going through a challenging period and the cuts being made by the Government have put pressure on many areas of it. However, by hiring smartly and effectively and taking on the right people, CCGs are likely to find that they can start to identify areas of improvement and make a real difference, which can only contribute to better standards of care,” Mr Gould added.