GPs' trust in link-up to assist cost cuts

The health trust in charge of GPs in South Staffordshire is to join with two other bodies in a move to create a new cost-cutting NHS "cluster".

South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust will join Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire's trusts to work on slashing bureaucracy and pushing through changes as the health care sector prepares for spending cuts.

Stuart Poynor, chief executive of Rugeley-based South Staffs PCT, will lead the cluster. He says the move will cut waste and protect core services.

But the decision has sparked anger in the north of the county, with medical groups claiming that the three relevant areas have nothing in common.

West Midlands Strategic Health Authority has received letters from GP representatives who believe that the opposite sides of the county should not be lumped together.

Trusts have faced further criticism for failing to consult the public about the move.

And Cure the NHS campaigner Julie Bailey has criticised Mr Poynor's appointment as lead because of South Staffs PCT's involvement in the Stafford Hospital scandal.

Mr Poynor today moved to allay fears over the move, stressing that it is not a merger and insisting that existing management at the trusts will not be compromised.

"The cluster lead roles are an internal arrangement to enable the Strategic Health Authority to interact more effectively with the local NHS system and have been established on a competitive basis," he said.