Wandsworth GP's first to implement Government Healthcare Reforms

Council leader Edward Lister has welcomed an announcement that family doctors in Wandsworth are among the first in the country to be ready to implement the Government’s reforms of healthcare services.

On Wednesday health secretary Andrew Lansley announced that family doctors in Wandsworth were ready to begin commissioning health services after all the borough's GP practices successfully formed a "pathfinder consortium" - a key part of the Government's plans for the NHS.

The borough's 46 GP surgeries are now in a position to work in partnership together to manage local budgets and commission services for patients in partnership with other NHS colleagues and the council.

Speaking at the borough's health and wellbeing board Cllr Lister said: "This is good news for residents in this borough who will be among the best placed in the country to benefit from the fresh thinking that is going on within the NHS. All the borough's GPs should be congratulated for having worked so well together with their colleagues in NHS Wandsworth to be in pole position for this new way of delivering local health care. 

"Family doctors know what is best for their patients and once the reforms have been fully put into place, they will be in a better position to arrange and provide that care.

"The NHS will be streamlined with fewer layers of bureaucracy, meaning that management costs will be reduced so that more money and resources is available to support frontline services.

"I particularly welcome the strong commitment of our local GPs to work closely with the council to deliver a joined up approach to health and social care."

Wandsworth GP Dr Tom Coffey, who was among the GPs who led the pathfinder bid for the borough's consortium, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to build on the clinically led work we have already started in Wandsworth and make sure that local GPs and our patients are leading the decision making on health in the borough. We want to work with our patients and other clinical colleagues to maintain and improve local services."  

 

Graham Mackenzie, Borough MD for Wandsworth, part of the South West London Cluster, added: "We're delighted that Wandsworth GPs are ready to start leading the NHS locally.

"It's because of the close working relationship that already exists between GPs, NHS Wandsworth and the local authority that we've been able to make such excellent progress. Ultimately our aim is to commission the best possible services for local people, and we will be supporting the GPs over the next couple of years to fully establish a Wandsworth GP consortium."

The new consortium will now begin testing the new commissioning arrangements to ensure they are working well before more formal arrangements come into place by April 2013. The Wandsworth pathfinder will officially start to shadow the local primary care trust from April this year.