Cumbrian doctors get more budget powers (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Cumbrian doctors get more budget powers

3:57pm Monday 8th March 2010 in

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Family doctors are to be given more responsibility over the future shape of local NHS services in Cumbria.

From April, an increasing share of the county’s annual £800 million health budget will be directly managed by six GP-led boards representing South Lakeland, Eden, Barrow, Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland.

Each will be responsible for commissioning hospital, nursing and other health services for people in their area.

They will be largely autonomous from NHS Cumbria which will maintain responsibility for managing the allocation of resources to different parts of the county, ensuring high standards of care and buying health services that affect the whole county.

The move is the next step in NHS Cumbria’s drive to provide more health services, and decisions taken about them, closer to where people live.

National patient research consistently shows Cumbria’s GPs are amongst the best in England.

Family doctors deliver three million consultations with patients in GP practices every year in Cumbria and account for 90 per cent of the public's contact with the NHS.

In future, GPs across Cumbria will be given the chance to run their own community health services based around a single town, or a wider geographical area.

Dr Peter Weaving, one of NHS Cumbria’s leading GPs, said that tightening public sector budgets mean the next few years are going to be “enormously” challenging for the NHS.

“The family doctor with the patient sat on the other side of their consulting room desk is the best person to decide how to arrange health services in the years ahead.

“This is about putting more responsibility in the hands of local clinicians – not creating an army of mini-primary care trusts.