First week at the CCG!

6th-10th July 2015

My name is Amy Towey and I am a student at Sheffield Hallam University studying a Business Studies degree. As part of my degree I have been given the opportunity to take a year out from my studies at university and undertake a work placement where I will be able gain practical experience that I can then relate to my studies. I was extremely lucky to be able to secure a placement at the NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCCG) where my role is Transformation Programme Support Officer.

During my first week at the CCG I was involved in many activities, meeting all of the team at the CCG and understanding their roles, reading the starter pack which contained many useful NHS documents and also I was involved in two events that the Transformation Team were running. In addition I attended several meetings at the CCG during the week and this helped me to gain an insight into how it is run on a day to day basis; which is very complex!

On Wednesday I attended my first event with the CCG as part of the Transformation Team. It was an event held at Macclesfield Town Hall where the GP’s and Practice Managers from all 23 practices in Eastern Cheshire were invited to attend. The main aim of the event was to outline to them as part of the Caring Together Programme the draft copy of the service specification for general practice for the coming years. During the event there were workshop based activities where the GP’s and Practice Managers were asked to comment on different areas of the contract. After the event I had the responsibility of collating all of the feedback together which could then be used to assist the creation of the final specification. It was very interesting to see which areas they both agreed and disagreed with.

I was also lucky enough to attend another event with the CCG. This one was the Community Based Co-ordinated Care Workshop with stakeholders from the local community of East Cheshire invited including; CCG staff, members of the East Cheshire Council (ECC), patient representatives and care staff that work in the local community. As part of the event the attendees were split into several groups to discuss areas of difficulty around integrating care within the community; Information Sharing, Cultural Transformation and Workforce, Clinical Responsibility and Empowered Person. I was taking part in the group discussions and it was very interesting to see the different points of view amongst the group. This workshop was very informative for me to help understand the different areas within community based care.

I have really enjoyed my first week at the CCG and learning how it plays a very important role within the community, ensuring that the services they commission now and in the future meet the needs of the Eastern Cheshire population. I look forward to the next twelve months ahead at the CCG and developing my knowledge and skills in this area of the NHS.