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London to become world’s healthiest major global city by 2020

London’s 32 GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England (London) have today set out their plans to make London the world’s healthiest global city in a joint report, Transforming London’s Health and Care Together.

This includes the launch of 13 transformation programmes that will help achieve the vision set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View and Better Health for London reports launched last year. It will also deliver value and sustainability as part of plans to dramatically improve healthcare in the capital.

The programmes include the development of a new way of working for GPs, also launching today and the first of the programmes to go live. The Transforming Primary Care in London: a Strategic Commissioning Framework will radically improve the experience of both patients and family doctors. Patients will also benefit from more time with their GP thanks to plans to reduce the administrative burden placed on their doctors. These changes will be steadily implemented over the next five years.

The primary care framework is based on three aspects – proactive care, accessible care and coordinated care. All three will enable GPs to deliver a more effective and consistent service to London’s incredibly diverse population, regardless of the severity and complexity of its health needs.

Anne Rainsberry, Regional Director of NHS England (London) said: “We are determined to ensure London becomes the world’s healthiest global city. We have already taken steps to tackle the challenges that the health service faces in London. Today’s announcements will help us to go further and shake up how we deliver health and social care services so that we can meet the evolving needs of our population, now and in the future.

Dr Marc Rowland, Chair of the Office of London Clinical Commissioning Groups, said: “Today marks a major milestone in our vision of transforming care for millions of Londoners. Clinical Commissioning Groups across London have come together and we are working closely with NHS England and other organisations to tackle a wide range of issues, including primary care, cancer treatment, mental health and services for the homeless. London’s population is growing and changing and we need to keep looking ahead and working collaboratively to ensure we can meet the people’s needs and provide world class care all across the capital.”

Welcoming the new Framework, Patient representative Michael Vidal, co-chair of NHS England (London)’s Patient Board for Primary Care Transformation said: “I am confident that the new framework will make a real difference to patient’s lives – promoting wellbeing, providing better access and delivering continuity of care  in the communities where people live. It will be important that patients are engaged and consulted fully as the framework is implemented locally.”

One comment

  1. Malcolm McNeill says:

    Good luck with this.
    I’ve always thought that the Scottish model (championed by Nicola Sturgeon), provided a more cost-effective system by centralising all NHS procurement.