On 1 April 2013, Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) – who used to commission – or buy – health services for your local area will no longer to exist.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), led by GPs, will be responsible for commissioning local hospital and community services.

A new national organisation called the NHS Commissioning Board will commission primary care services including GPs and dentists, as well as more specialised services for people with complex or rare conditions.

Two changes that will take place with immediate effect are:

• complaints about a service will no longer go to the PCT, but should be sent to either the Clinical Commissioning Group or the NHS Commissioning Board, depending on who commissioned the service. For more information see NHS Choices at www.nhs.uk
• requests for funding to access services commissioned outside of the area will no longer go to the PCT. If the service is commissioned by the NHS Commissioning Board they will be available to anyone living in England eligible to receive that service. This includes neurorehabilitation for children with severe brain injury.

How will these changes affect local services for disabled children?

All GP practices are members of a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), who will decide how to spend the funding allocated to them by government.They often cover the same geographical area as the local authority. The CCG will commission ALL local hospital and community services including those that disabled children use such as:

• child development teams
• speech and language therapy
• physiotherapy
• occupational therapy
• community nurses
• wheelchair services
• continence services
• learning disability teams, and
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health services.

CCGs have a duty to cooperate with local authorities and their partners to improve the wellbeing of children in their area and support them in arranging support for children and families. This includes cooperating in community care assessments and helping the local authority to provide support for children with special educational needs.

CCG’s have to demonstrate public and patient involvement in their work.