GPs caring for 70,000 patients in Newham have come together to help improve healthcare for them as part of wider changes to the NHS.

The doctors from a dozen practices in the borough now make up the Newham Commissioning Group which has been granted pathfinder status allowing it to work more closely with their patients to introduce improvements in healthcare.

The setting up of the consortium is part and parcel of changes that will take effect as part of the Government’s White Paper on Health. It will allow doctors to become directly responsible for commissioning health services on behalf of their patients.

Dr Hardip Nandra, chairman of the newly formed group, said: “Improving the patient journey is at the heart of our vision. We want to look at how we can improve patients’ experience of using health services and the actual clinical treatments patients receive along their journey of care, to achieve better outcomes.

“It’s also vital that we make sure services are as cost effective as possible, and ensure we support and develop a new generation of GPs to lead local care.

“We are delighted to achieve pathfinder status because that will give us access to a high level of organisational support which will enable us to achieve our aims.”

Newham was one of the first in the country to have doctors from 50 practices form a commissioning consortia catering for as many as 280,000 patients.