Buckinghamshire NHS authority will be gone in three years (From Bucks Free Press)

Buckinghamshire NHS authority will be gone in three years

3:06pm Tuesday 27th July 2010 in

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A CONTROVERSIAL NHS authority will close by 2013 as a result of a major Government shake-up of health services, it was confirmed today.

A boss at NHS Buckinghamshire, also known as the primary care trust, confirmed the date after a Government white paper said the authorities would be abolished.

The body decides where NHS cash is spent, but this will now fall to GPs. It is spending £720m this year.

It used to provide community NHS services such as district nurses but this is now managed by the county’s hospital authority.

Jane Dudley, director of organisational development and human resources, said: “We are working to see how we can hand on a positive legacy from the PCT in the future to [GPs] so they can take on new responsibilities.

“We have got until 2013 to be working alongside colleagues to hand this legacy on to them.”

The organisation, set up in 2006, and its predecessor, Wycombe PCT, has caused controversy for leading changes to Wycombe Hospital.

This saw major A&E cases axed in 2005 and doctor-led births last year. It overspent until last year, though bosses said they got below average cash from the Government.

Family doctors were allowed to buy NHS services, also known as commissioning, under Labour.

There were three doctors’ groups in Bucks doing this, a NHSB board meeting heard today.

A GP leader this month said the county would be a ‘forerunner’ in family doctors spending NHS cash (see link, bottom of story).

And Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Anne Eden, said today: “I do believe that we are well positioned in taking advantage of the opportunities the white paper affords.”

The Government says the move will allow cash from PCT running costs to be ploughed into frontline patient care. In 2008/09, top managers cost the NHSB about £850,000.

Yet critics have warned many GPs will not want to or will not have time to decide where cash is spent and will use expensive management consultants.

Mrs Dudley also said the white paper put more emphasis on the health of a patient as a result of treatment, rather than strict targets.

Some have argued that targets do not always produce the best results.

For example, A&E departments had to see 98 per cent of patients in four hours. But some argued this could be met by leaving patients in ambulances outside hospital, meaning the clock does not start counting down to four hours.

Meeting targets was trumpeted by ministers as proof that NHS had improved – but critics said they did not show the full picture.

Mrs Dudley said: “Whilst we all felt some things about targets have been quite positive, I think we welcome the sense of moving towards a strong focus towards outcomes in the future.”

The meeting was also told that NHS South Central, which oversees all trusts in the region, will be axed by 2012.

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