Three months ago I blogged asking: ‘Why don’t councils and health trusts work more closely?’

Healthcare Republic reports today that think tank London Councils believes London’s local authorities should be given control of PCTs’ non-acute budgets, allowing GPs to make referrals to all local public services ‘not just those run by the NHS’.

As I blogged in October, at a time when the NHS is looking in on itself about where savings could be made, greater co-operation with local government must surely be worth investigating. It is where services overlap where the greatest potential for savings can be made.

There’s even an Audit Commission report about the benefits for PCTs and local government by jointly financing some of their work – and most importantly, better services for users.

At the end of last year GP launched its Rate Your PCT campaign and we’re compiling the results at the moment ahead of a pre-election launch. Without wishing to pre-empt those results, it would be fair to say that those who work with them feel that NHS managers could certainly do better.

The question is: Is their best likely to be better than their council counterparts?

What do you think?

Tomorrow Healthcare Republic reports about a joint council/PCT venture to provide the first probation centre offering GP-led care.