Pulse report:
GP commissioners are shunning management consultants and have dramatically cut NHS spending on external support since CCGs assumed full budgetary responsibility in April, a Pulse investigation reveals.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from 141 CCGs across England show an accumulated spend of £5.66m since April on consultancy firms such as McKinsey & Company, PwC, KPMG and Capita – an average of £42,300 per CCG.
Extrapolated across all 212 CCGs, the investigation suggests that just under £9m has been spent across England so far, a sharp reduction on the estimated £26m spent by PCTs between April 2012 and December 2012.