A PLAN to improve the buying of health services to meet the needs of people in south Cumbria has been put forward.
NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group wants GP practices in Furness and the South Lakes to join Lancashire North practices in a new Morecambe Bay CCG.
It would mean services could link up more after it was found patients in the north and south of Cumbria were accessing different kinds of services at different places.
Increasingly, doctors are finding patients in the south are using specialist centres in the North West, while those in the north are travelling to the North East.
Explaining the thought behind the proposal, Dr Hugh Reeve, interim chief clinical officer Cumbria CCG, said: "Increasingly Cumbria is seen as being part of two distinct healthcare systems.
"Because of this we are exploring new ways of working across Cumbria and North Lancashire to support the Success Regime in the north and the Better Care Together programme in the Morecambe Bay area."
Potential patient benefits
NHS Cumbria CCG and NHS Lancashire North CCG are considering redrawing their boundaries, and have wrote to member GP practices, staff and other commissioners to ask their views on the move.
Ben Merriman, pharmacist in Barrow with the Murrays group and member of Cumbria's Local Pharmaceutical Committee, said: "It may be that it makes it easier for patients, whether that's stopping people from Barrow having to travel two hours up to Carlisle or people from Workington and Whitehaven having to go to Kendal.
"We have two hospital trusts in Cumbria, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay and North Cumbria, so we already have a split.
"We all work together and we all work apart anyway."
Hugh Reeve, a GP in Grange and interim chief clinical officer at Cumbria CCG. <strong>What are Clinical Commissioning Groups?</strong>
CCGs were created in 2012 to replace Primary Care Trusts.
CCGs are membership bodies, with local GP practices as the members.
They are responsible for commissioning mental health services, urgent and emergency care, community care and elective hospital services.
The leadership of each CCG is an elected governing body made up of GPs, clinicians and lay members.
They are responsible for around two-thirds of the NHS England budget, roughly £72 billion.
Next steps
Cumbria CCG and Lancashire North CCG say the plan would bring greater "clarity and efficiencies to commissioning arrangement" and pave the way for better integration of health services in Morecambe Bay and North Cumbria.
Both bodies are now looking at developing different structures.
Andrew Bennett, chief officer at Lancashire North CCG, said: "The developing vanguard programme Better Care Together around Morecambe Bay has refocused our commissioning activity and the way NHS organisations around the Bay work together.
"It makes sense for patients and staff that we step up our work in this area so we are well prepared for the future."
Approval for any change will be needed from NHS England.
RELATED ARTICLES: No decision yet on maternity consultant care at Barrow hospital
Major investment in child mental health services in Cumbria revealed
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here