School nurses, midwife visitors and community nurses, were finally given permission to split from NHS Kingston and form their own community company.
NHS London approved the formation of Your Healthcare, a social enterprise organisation, at a board meeting yesterday morning after pulling the plug on the original October 1, 2009, go-live date.
Your Healthcare will be handed 482 community nurses, another 105 agency staff and £24.7m in contracts when it finally launches on August 1.
NHS Kingston will decide what NHS community services the people of Kingston need and pay Your Healthcare to provide them.
Madeleine Pallas, corporate communications director for Your Healthcare, said: "Obviously we're delighted. We are ready to go."
Supporters of social enterprises, dubbed "sisters doing it for themselves", can do more at a cheaper price by breaking free from NHS bureaucracy and being more innovative.
Unite union had protested against the move and pointed to the organisation's published plans to shave 5.2 per cent off the budget each year up to 2013/14.
Other unions oppose social enterprises but feel they are the better than wholesale privatisation.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here