WIGAN Council and the Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are set to pool a significant proportion of their budget under plans to integrate health and social care commissioning in the borough.

The move, if approved by councillors at a cabinet and CCG meeting this month, would see the creation of a single commissioning function and committee.

The committee, made up of representatives from both organisations – including politicians and clinicians – would be responsible for overseeing the combined health and social care budget.

The aim would be to ensure the money is spent as effectively as possible to provide health and care services that improve the health and wellbeing of the borough’s residents.

Following the £6 billion devolution of health and social care last year, the Wigan borough and the nine other boroughs in Greater Manchester were tasked with producing a local plan to improve the health of residents and to make services more joined up.

Part of the plan was to bring together leaders from organisations with responsibility for commissioning health and care services to do so in a joined up way.

In a joint statement, the council and the CCG said: “The long term health and wellbeing of residents will only be secured if organisations and individuals work together to take charge of the health needs of Greater Manchester.

“We are already seeing some really positive results of this kind of joined up working between adult social care services and community nursing and with GP clusters, and in places like Scholes where public services like the police, health and council work together under one roof to solve some of the local issues.

“To support the providers of services working together it is really important that commissioning of these services is also joined up as much as possible.

“It is a great step forward for the council and CCG to not only continue to work effectively together but to have a responsibility for a shared budget.”

While the permanent committee would only come into force in April, councillors and CCG body would be asked to decide whether a shadow committee can be formed in the meantime to begin making the necessary preparations.