Two Thirds Of The UK Benefit from More Personalised Care

In the latest Government move to modernise the NHS, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has today announced the latest GP groups ready to take the lead.

GPs covering two thirds of the country have already come forward to sign up for the new role, two years early.

There are now 177 groups of GP practices who will play an increasing role in commissioning healthcare. This means 35 million people around the country will now start to benefit from the major shift of power to trusted local GPs, enabling them to deliver the best possible care for their communities.

The selected pathfinders represent GPs who have demonstrated readiness to start taking on commissioning responsibilities, and start putting in place health services that achieve better health outcomes for their patients.

As a big step towards delivering the plans set out in the Health and Social Care Bill, the groups will work together to help manage local budgets and purchase services for patients directly with other NHS colleagues and local authorities.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Two thirds of the country will now start to benefit from more personalised care, as another wave of GPs form pathfinder groups.

“As part of our plans to modernise the NHS, we are taking power away from bureaucrats and handing it to GPs and patients. In cutting out tiers of bureaucracy, the NHS will be more responsive to patients’ needs and have more to spend on patient care.

“This is a truly bottom-up response, as demonstrated by the varying shape and size of the GP pathfinder groups. The speed of uptake is also highly encouraging. It demonstrates significant will on the part of GPs and nurses to get on with designing and purchasing NHS services, so that outcomes can improve for patients.”

(BMcN/GK)