East Anglia-based solicitors Birketts is one of 22 law firms in England to have been selected to provide legal services to the NHS.

Birketts, which has offices in Ipswich, Chelmsford, Cambridge and Norwich, is the only firm within the region to have made it on to the list which aims to provide NHS organisations with best value and consistency of service provision for their legal requirements.

Under the framework deal, which runs until November 2015, the firm will provide legal advice across areas such as employment, property and commercial law as well as more specialist healthcare law to organisations such as hospitals, GP practices and clinical commissioning groups.

Richard Eaton, head of health legal services at Birketts, said: “We’re delighted to be one of a small number of law firms in England to have been selected to provide the NHS with legal services.

“Our experience and track record in the health sector enabled us to win this contract which supports over 80 NHS organisations across the country.”

The contract was placed by NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) which also provides accounting, procurement and employment services, and processes payments adding up to £92billion a year for the NHS in England.

Peter Akid, director of procurement at NHS SBS, said: “The framework helps our clients achieve best value in legal services provision while retaining access to the highest level of expertise available.”