Health secretary Alan Milburn has set aside £55m to fund public–private partnerships aimed at improving doctors' surgeries.
The package includes £10m for LIFT (local improvement finance trust) initiatives to replace or upgrade 600 surgeries over the next two years.
The Department of Health and Partnerships UK, a body set up by the Treasury to co-ordinate the formation of PPPs, will oversee the initiatives. The government will spend £195m on LIFTs during the next four years.
The first schemes will be in Barnsley, Camden and Islington, east London and the City, Manchester, Salford and Trafford, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside and Sandwell in the West Midlands.
Alan Milburn, secretary of state for Health, promised £30m for doctors' training facilities and £15m for primary care workers' accommodation.
