A BURNLEY health watchdog has won national backing for its demand for a leash to be kept on bureaucratic spending by new care groups.

The local Community Health Council fears the cost of setting up and running primary care groups - partnerships of GPs and other health professionals which buy services for patients - in every district will eat into the NHS cash to be used for patient care.

And its concern was mirrored at the annual conference of the national Association of Community Health Councils in Eastbourne yesterday.

The conference overwhelmingly accepted a Burnley CHC motion calling on the Secretary of State for Health to monitor the costs of primary care groups and primary care trusts; publish the costs each year and require the Department of Health to set strict limits on the groups' management costs in line with the arrangements already set for health authorities.

The motion was one of only 12 accepted for debate by the 440 delegates at the three-day conference.

Burnley CHC chairman Coun Frank Clifford said measures were necessary to restrict the potential growth of bureaucracy in the new health groups.

He said: "Already Blackburn primary care group want to seek trust status and before we know it they will want fancy new headquarters and on-going costs could spiral - all money which should be used directly for patient care.

"It is this kind of thing which needs to be monitored and restricted carefully," he added.

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