Basingstoke GPs have been picked to trial a new way of running the NHS.
Doctors in the borough will join 52 other groups across the country to help with the radical shake-up.
Under new plans put forward by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley all Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) will be abolished.
PCTs currently control funds for patient care from central government, but under the new plans the money will be administered by GPs.
This will give GPs the power to pay hospitals and other health organisations to carry out services for their patients.
Mr Lansley said: “We want to create an NHS that puts patients at the heart of everything it does and is focused on achieving health outcomes that are among the best in the world.
“This means cutting bureaucracy and simplifying the NHS structure so that we are able to reinvest savings into what matters most – frontline services.”
But before the changes come into force groups of GPs have been chosen to act as pathfinders for the new system.
In Basingstoke borough, all GP practices, along three practices in Alton – Chawton Park Surgery, Alton Health Centre and Boundaries Surgery – have been selected for the trial, 19 practices in total.
The surgeries will comprise the Calleva Commissioning Consortia.
The GPs will be looking at ways in which consortiums can work best, including identifying problems with the new structure.
Plus they will be able to work with other groups across the country to find out what works and does not.
The surgeries will start taking on commissioning responsibilities next year.
Lead GP of the Basingstoke pathfinders is Dr Hugh Freeman, who works at the Hackwood Partnership in Essex House, Worting Road.
He said: “GPs in the Basingstoke area have been working closely and productively for many years and the development of the new commissioning consortia will reinforce this way of working.
“My fellow GPs and I are committed to commissioning excellent heath services for people living in Basingstoke and are pleased that under the pathfinder programme we can achieve this even more quickly.”
In August, Mr Lansley visited Basingstoke and North Hants hospital to talk to patients and staff about the proposed changes.
