EIGHT GPs- including Dr Tim Webster of Wisbech and Dr John Jones of Soham- belong to a group that controls an £850million NHS budget for Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and parts of Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire.

They are just part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group tasked with delivering improved outcomes for patients.

The second largest in the country, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG is designing and commissioning health services for a population of 860,000.

It comprises eight local groups, each tailored to their specific community’s needs.

One priority will be the tackling of health inequalities and it aims to reduce the amount of premature deaths from coronary heart disease in people aged under 75 years.

In Peterborough and Wisbech and other areas identified in the 20 per cent most deprived areas across Cambridgeshire (compared with national data) there will be special attention. Key focus areas include healthy eating, reducing alcohol intake, managing long term conditions (especially blood pressure and diabetes) and increasing take up of health check service available through GPs.

Dr Neil Modha, Chief Clinical Officer said: “Decision making has shifted closer to the patient.

“Local doctors and clinicians are now in charge of budgets and by working more closely with our local communities we have more influence on what the NHS spends it money on and where.”

Cambridgeshire was one of the first areas to pilot GP led commissioning back in 2010.

FACT FILE

Enabling patients to die in their preferred place of death is key to the developments for end of life care. Currently there is significant variation geographically and in terms of disease for example;

In Cambridge City 38 per cent of deaths were in hospital, whereas in Peterborough/ Fenland the figure is 48 per cent.

Forty per cent of people with cancer die in hospital, for respiratory disease it is around 60 per cent.