Bury CCG refused to provide therapy sessions and denied her access to mental health services in her area.
8. Mrs E complains following a judicial review against the Trust, the CCG failed to provide her with therapy sessions and denied her access to mental health services.
9. It is important to explain the role of a CCG.
10. CCGs were established as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. CCGs are groups of general practices which come together in each area to commission the best services for their patients and population.
11. CCGs then buy services for their local community from any service provider that meets NHS standards and costs – these could be NHS hospitals, social enterprises, voluntary organisations or private sector providers. CCGs commission a wide range of services including mental health services, urgent and emergency care, elective hospital services and community care. CCGs commission most of the hospital and community NHS services in the local areas for which they are responsible. They are not responsible for administering care or treatment to an individual.
12. A CCG has a responsibility to commission appropriate healthcare to meet the clinical needs of individual patients within its area of responsibility.
13. We can see Bury CCG provided funding to allow Mrs E access to mental health services both within and out of her area. Mrs E has not complained to us with to a regard to funding or the way the CCG commissions services but concerns about the services themselves.
14. With regards to providing therapy sessions and access to mental health services, this responsibility lies with the Trust.
15. We can see Mrs E raised these concerns with the Trust in 2019 and we have already considered this part of her complaint.
16. As we have already looked at this part of Mrs E’s complaint and reached a decision, we will not be taking any further action.
The CCG’s handling of Mrs E’s complaint
17. Mrs E says when she addressed her concerns with the CCG, it refused to deal with her complaint and referred her back to letters sent by the Trust.
18. We note, this would be the appropriate route as the Trust is the organisation responsible for delivering care and treatment about Mrs E’s mental health.
19. The CCG’s Complaints Policy states:
‘Complaints about medical practices, dental practices, opticians and pharmacists should be directed to the practice manager or business manager in the first instance. Complaints about other healthcare organisations should be directed to the appropriate complaints department at the relevant organisation.’
20. As per its policy, we can see the CCG was correct to refer Mrs E to the Trust. Further, the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 states if an individual has already made a complaint to the provider (in this case the Trust) and are unhappy with the outcome, they are unable to raise the same issue with the CCG. If they remain unhappy, they must go directly to the Ombudsman with their concerns.
21. As above, Mrs E approached our office with her concerns in 2019. It appears she has now raised the same concern with the CCG.
22. Taking this into account, we can find no evidence of failings in terms of the way the CCG handled her complaint as it signposted her to the correct organisation.
23. We appreciate Mrs E’s strength of feeling about her complaint and it is clear she feels deeply concerned about the service she received. We do not wish to diminish the impact she says these events have had for her. We hope we have explained the thorough consideration we have given to our decision and clearly outlined the reason for it.