WYRE Forest's clinical commissioning group (CCG) could be combined with three others in Worcestershire and Herefordshire in an effort to save £2million.

A consultation will be launched next month on the new proposals, which would see Herefordshire and Worcestershire's four CCGs "streamlined" into one service covering all 750,000 people in the region.

The current Wyre Forest CCG is responsible for planning and buying a wide range of healthcare services in the district, including 11 GP practices and most hospital, community and mental health services. It serves a patient population of 112,000 and has a budget of approximately £127million.

The CCG says plans will not affect any health or care services provided by NHS organisations or local councils across the area, but will reduce the duplication of roles and governance that sit behind the scenes within the four organisations.

Simon Trickett, accountable officer for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCGs, said: “Our main priority is and always will be our patients and the health and wellbeing of our local population.

"Having already set up combined governance and decision-making arrangements across the four CCGs, this is the next logical step.

"We will not lose sight of the different needs of our local communities and we will continue to work with local organisations so that people’s needs, views and experiences remain at the heart of our decision making."

He added: "All NHS organisations are required by NHS England and NHS Improvement to reduce their running costs by 20 per cent by 31 March 2020, which means finding a saving of nearly £2million across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

"By creating one single CCG, instead of the current four, we estimate that we can save the required £2million.

“I would like to emphasise that this won’t have any impact on NHS services being provided across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This is about reducing some of the bureaucracy and duplication that running four CCGs brings.”

Wyre Forest CCG is one of four clinical commissioning groups in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire region, which also comprises Herefordshire CCG, Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG and South Worcestershire.

The CCGs will be seeking people’s views on the proposal throughout June as part of a public consultation.

Feedback will then be summarised and considered ahead of a final decision.