THE chief executive of NHS Redbridge has been given a new position to help strengthen acute commissioning across the capital.

Heather O’Meara will be responsible for Outer North East London’s Acute Commissioning Unit in addition to her normal day-to-day duties in the borough.

She will be joined by a management team drawn from local health providers, including The London Ambulance Service, Whipps Cross University Hospitals Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust. The move will effectively see the area’s four existing primary care trusts work as one commissioning body collectively ‘buying’ acute services.

The new arrangement will give trusts greater bargaining and buying powers, allow then to build on good practice and share expertise. The unit will take full responsibility for acute management performance at local hospitals The move will also aim to tackle health inequalities and improve the health and well-being of the community.

Ms O’Meara said: “We have some major challenges in our local hospitals and need to plan for the future so patients get the best possible service.

“It makes sense to pool our resources because collectively we have more financial clout than we could hope for as individual PCTs.”