SOUTH Lakeland and Eden GPs have been chosen to help spearhead major NHS reforms before they are rolled out nationally in 2013.
Yesterday’s announcement by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley means the county’s seven lead-GPs, representing 86 practices and serving more than 500,000 patients, will manage NHS budgets after primary care trusts are abolished.
Dr Hugh Reeve, lead-GP for South Lakeland, said: “Cumbria has beaten off stiff competition to become one of the nation’s first groups of GPs to take more control for the health services local communities reply upon.
“A great deal of work has already been done in Cumbria to create health services closer to where patients live and allow the county’s big hospitals to concentrate on providing a higher level of care for those who need it.
“This vote of confidence from national health leaders means family doctors will be able to speed up the pace of reform and work with hospital doctors in particular to improve the way services are delivered.
“Only by reforming hospital and other services will we be able to make inroads into the big health challenges communities face and start to put prevention on an equal footing with cure."
The other GP groups to be selected as ‘pathfinders’ are in Eden, Allerdale, Barrow, Copeland and Carlisle.
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