Bairbre de Brun: "I want to new health groups to start work quickly"

Ms de Brun said there had been notable support for the creation of health and social care groups.

"I believe this provides the best and most acceptable basis for a new direction in the development of primary care."

She acknowledged that it would be a formidable task to establish the new groups and transform the structure of primary care.

The groups will progress to holding delegated budgets as quickly as they can demonstrate that they can competently manage this new responsibility

Bairbre de Brun

But she said: "I want them to start to work quickly and will expect them to take on responsibility for managing budgets for some services, for example prescribing and primary care services."

The minister said she would hold the health boards to account in developing the skills of the groups and delegating budgets.

"It is my intention that groups will progress to holding delegated budgets as quickly as they can demonstrate that they can competently manage this new responsibility."

The minister's announcement followed a consultation period earlier in the year on her plans for primary care outlined in her Building the Way Forward in Primary Care document. In total 190 people responded.

Derek Baker, Director of Primary Care at the Department of Health said he believed the resulting improvements in local care could relieve the severe strains on acute services.

"One of the ways to relieve pressure is to develop the capacity of primary care. What we are trying to do here is create a structure and give GPs and primary care professionals the resources that will facilitate that," he said.

Mixed opinions

The current GP fundholding scheme allows family doctors to control part of their own budget.

The fundholders were able to directly buy specialist and other care while other GPs who were not fundholders relied on health authorities to commission services.

Advocates of the scheme said it made the National Health Service more efficient while critics said it created a two-tier system which meant fundholding patients often jumped hospital waiting lists.

GP fundholder were also able to spend some of their budgets on premises and equipment, rather than direct patient care.

The scheme was abolished in the rest of the UK about two years ago.