NHS finalises reforms to put GPs in charge (From This Is Local London)

Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group given green light to buy healthcare

9:00am Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Hardeep Matharu

Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group (SDCCG) has officially been given the green light to buy the healthcare for thousands of residents in Epsom and Ewell, Banstead, Mole Valley and east Elmbridge.

SDCCG, consisting of 33 GP practices, is now a statutory organisation and, has a budget of more than £300m to buy healthcare from local hospitals, community services, social care, ambulance services, and mental healthcare.

Following its authorisation, it will now start in its role on April 1.

A SDCCG spokeswoman said that as part of the Government’s reforms to the NHS, CCGs have undergone a "robust authorisation that considers whether they are ready to become NHS organisations in their own right".

She added: "SDCCG has provided the assurance necessary to show it is ready to commission healthcare on behalf of local people - and it is ready to take on its full legal responsibilities."

Its clinical chairman, Claire Fuller, added: "We have come an incredibly long way in a very short space of time and today’s news reflects the huge amount of work our staff and GPs have put into establishing SDCCG.

"As local clinicians we know what works well and where there are opportunities to improve care for our patients."

"[The announcement] gives us the go-ahead to start driving forward these improvements, keeping patients, carers and families at the heart of everything we do."