A NEW NHS body for Northumberland has been given a clean bill of health to begin its work.
The NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has passed a rigorous authorisation process to ensure it is ready to take on its responsibilities from April.
The group will have a budget of £410million to plan and purchase healthcare services for patients across the county, taking over the role from NHS North of Tyne.
It will cover all 46 county GP practices, and assessors from the NHS Commissioning Board were impressed with its innovative best practice in many areas, including plans for patient-centred commissioning and work with providers.
Chief Clinical Officer for the Northumberland group and Morpeth GP Dr Alistair Blair said: “We are delighted that NHS Northumberland CCG has passed such a rigorous authorisation process.
“We were praised for our strong leadership team, which ensures our CCG is in a strong position to take on the challenges of commissioning healthcare and health services.
“We know that taking over from the current commissioners, NHS North of Tyne, in April will be a real challenge, but we’re well placed to carry out our new responsibilities and to make changes to support the further health improvement of local people in the county.”