Clinical commissioning groups were formed as a result of the NHS White Paper “Equality and excellence: Liberating the NHS” and the subsequent health and social care bill. These set out the governments long term plans for the future of the NHS, and states how the NHS will:

The fundamental difference with a Clinical Commissioning Group is that they are led by clinicians. For patients, this means that doctors will be heavily involved in ensuring the appropriate provision of local health services, and will work more collaboratively with other organisations in making decisions about health.

Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is committed to ensuring it commissions sustainable, high quality, safe, effective and efficient healthcare services with a focus on improving patient experience on behalf of the population of Enfield. Enfield CCG is led by the Governing Body (Board) on behalf of the 50 member GP practices, serving a patient population of around 317,000 people. The borough is divided into four localities along geographical lines which align well with local demography. Each locality has elected two GP representatives to the Board.

Commissioning involves:

• Understanding the health needs of the population
• Designing and redesigning services
• Buying the services
• Measuring the impact of services

More can be found here.