Nurses have been given the new privilege to sit on "clinical senates" which advise on local NHS service planning, reports Nursing Times.

This should hopefully allow those in nurse manager jobs to sit alongside GPs and other health professionals when making important NHS decisions.

The addition of nurses to the clinical senates should allay fears that NHS reforms were too focused on decisions made by GPs at the expense of other health professionals.

In a document, the government said the new senates would have a "major say" in the formation of commissioning groups and in advising them on their plans for local services.

According to Pulse, the clinical senates will also "design services and set new tariffs for NHS providers."

The senates will then feed back their information to the NHS Commissioning Board, which will scrutinise the senates' plans and strategies.

The document reads: "We will enable doctors, nurses and other professionals to come together in 'clinical senates' to give expert advice, which we expect clinical commissioning groups to follow, on how to make patient care fit together seamlessly in each area of the country.

"Clinical senates will have a formal role in the authorisation of clinical commissioning groups. In addition, they will have a key role in advising the NHS Commissioning Board on whether commissioning plans are clinically robust and on major service changes," the document added.