NHS bosses: Help us shape St Helens care (From St Helens Star)

NHS bosses: Help us shape St Helens care

7:00pm Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News

NHS bosses are seeking to recruit people who want to help shape healthcare policies across the borough.

St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group is a new NHS organisation which, from April, will be responsible for buying local health services.

The group has been working in shadow form for almost a year, taking over responsibility inch by inch from the Primary Care Trust, NHS Halton and St Helens.

Now as the St Helens CCG moves towards being an authorised statutory NHS body, it wants local people to join and work to help improve the public’s health and wellbeing.

Under controversial reforms to the NHS, CCGs are given control of local healthcare, and decide which services to spend money on.

There are three different levels of membership:

• Level one – Receive regular updates from St Helens CCG.
• Level two – as level one, but also would like to be asked for views and opinions on local health services via public consultations and appropriate engagement process
• Level three – as level one and two, but also would like to be invited to be involved in service-specific discussions around a chosen area of interest, for example, long- term conditions or mental health.

Dr Steve Cox, local GP and clinical accountable officer for St Helens CCG, said: “We want to be as actively engaged with our local people as possible.

“We already have all our local GPs signed up as members, so it makes sense to welcome local people into our CCG family as well.

“We hope that as members, local people will have a real chance to make a difference to the way we buy local services.”

Membership forms are available on sthelensccg.nhs.

uk or can be posted out.

Contact Philippa Rowley, for details, on 01744 621 749 or e-mail philippa.rowley@ sthelensccg.nhs.uk.