“Field force” to oversee commissioning will comprise more than 2000 people, leaked report shows

The NHS Commissioning Board will employ 3500 people and spend £20bn (€23bn; $32bn) a year commissioning services, including specialised and primary care, a leaked document says. It may take the title NHS England.

The document, marked “Confidential Draft—not for circulation,” describes the structure and function of the board. Because the board itself will have a board, confusion seems likely unless it adopts a different name, the document says. The clinical commissioning groups have been told that “NHS” must form part of their names, so the foreword to the document, written by the NHS’s chief executive, David Nicholson, suggests that, on this rationale, the commissioning board might be NHS England.

This suggestion is followed by …