Major changes to the NHS in Stone, Staffordshire and across the country come into force on 1st April.
Government health reforms mean that once the Easter Bank Holiday ends, the NHS and healthcare landscape in Staffordshire will look very different.
The three NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) – North Staffordshire, South Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent – which have co-ordinated many of their activities collectively as the Staffordshire Cluster of PCTs, will be formally abolished on March 31.
The PCTs have been responsible for managing the local health system, including commissioning contracts with hospitals, mental health services and community services. They have also been responsible for public health awareness and planning “primary care” services including GPs, dentists and pharmacies.
The new NHS in Staffordshire will see most of the responsibilities for commissioning services passing to six new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), led by family GPs and giving more direct clinical input into decision making.
Patients will see the same GPs, hospitals and other healthcare professionals.
Alex Fox MBE, Chairman of the Staffordshire Cluster of PCTs said: “The long-term changes affect the organisations that buy and monitor health services and how they are delivered. Patients do not need to do anything and should not see a difference in any treatment they are currently receiving or have planned. They are in good hands.”
The CCGs have existed in “shadow” form for at least 12 months, and have been using that time to ensure they are in a fit state to assume their new responsibilities on April 1. All have been through a very demanding accreditation process run by the Department of Health.
Mr Fox added: “This has obviously been a very demanding time for PCT staff and board members. I would like to thank them all, our board members and the partners that we have worked with over the past 11 years for the contribution they have made to local healthcare. I am confident that our successor organisations are in a good shape to take over from the PCTs and deliver excellent healthcare services.”
Stone’s CCG is the Stafford and Surrounds CCG, which combines 14 GP practices serving 140,000 people in Stone and Stafford, including Mansion House and Cumberland House in Stone. Find out more on their website HERE
The Stafford and Surrounds CCG will be holding their board meeting in public on 15th April at Stafford Gathehouse Theatre between 2.30pm and 5pm. They will be setting out their plans on what services will be commissioned for local people’s healthcare needs.
Items on the agenda include an update from the Chair; a report from the Chief Officer on ‘Everyone Counts – Plan on a Page’ which covers a set of outcomes against which improvements will be measured, and the opportunity for questions from the public.
The meeting will be held in the Mountbatten Suite, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Eastgate Street, Stafford, ST16 2LT. Members of the public are invited to attend the meeting but are asked to confirm attendance by emailing katie.woods@northstaffs.nhs.uk or calling 01785 221043.
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Local Healthwatch – Call for Involvement
Healthwatch-Communities Involved is a partnership of four national charities who have joined forces to push for greater people power in local health and social care services.
Local health and social care is changing rapidly. The ways in which people can participate in shaping these local services are also changing. From 1 April, a new local consumer champion, local Healthwatch, with the powers to hold local services to account, will be set up in every city and county council across the country.
The new organisation wants to build on previous work such as the Local Involvement Networks (LINks), and encourage a more diverse range of people to participate in the monitoring of their local health and social care services in Staffordshire. Visit www.healthwatch-ci.co.uk/signup-csv/ to find out more.
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