Meeting: Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 2 - 05/06/2006 01:00:00 PM)
Item: A3 Re-organisation in the National Health Service (i) New Strategic Health Authority (ii) A Primary Cae Trust for County Durham (iii) Merger of Ambulance Trust
Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee
5th June 2006
Re-organisation in the National Health Service:-
i. New Strategic Health Authority
ii. A Primary Care Trust for County Durham
iii. Merger of Ambulance Trust |
|
| Report of the Head of Overview and Scrutiny |
Purpose of Report 1. To explain a number of significant changes in the structure of the National Health Service in County Durham recently announced by the Department of Health.
New Strategic Health Authority 2. The Secretary of State for Health has announced the result of the recent consultation process about the re-organisation of Strategic Health Authorities in England. Overall, the number of Strategic Health Authorities will be reduced from twenty-eight down to ten. The intention is to ensure that the National Health Service is structurally able to deliver the next stage of health reforms. It is stated that fewer, more strategic organisations will be able to deliver stronger commissioning functions leading to improved services for patients. Also, streamlined back office functions would mean better value for money for the tax payer.
3. The Strategic Health Authority for the North East will combine the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Strategic Health Authority with the County Durham and Tees Valley Health Authority to cover a population of over 2.5 million people. Nationally, the Strategic Health Authority will be the smallest in terms of population.
The new Strategic Health Authority will start operating on 1
st July 2006 and will be called the North East Strategic Health Authority. The new Chief Executive will be David Flory.
A New Primary Care Trust for County Durham 4. The Secretary of State has also announced a major restructure of Primary Care Trusts in England. Overall, the number of Primary Care Trusts will be reduced from 303 to 152. This restructuring is intended to result in:-
- a closer relationship between Health, Social Care and Emergency Services,
- improved and better value services for patients
- better emergency planning with more resources to respond to major incidents and ensure service continues as normal, and
- more money for front line services.
5. One of the aims of the reconfiguration is to bring Primary Care Trusts more in line with the boundaries of local authorities which are Social Services authorities. In County Durham, there will be one Primary Care Trust covering the whole of the County replacing the current five Trusts. There will be a separate Primary Care Trust for Darlington and the other unitary authorities in Tees Valley and on Tyneside. There will also be a Primary Care Trust for Northumberland.
7. This new structure is due to take effect in October 2006.
Ambulance Trust 8. A further announcement has been made about the reorganisation of Ambulance Trusts. From the 1
st July 2006, the number of Ambulance Trusts will be reduced from the current twenty-nine down to twelve.
9. As predicted, the North East Ambulance Trust will merge with part of the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Trust covering the whole of the North East from Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Darlington and Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton on Tees. The current Chief Executive, Simon Featherstone, has been appointed Chief Executive of the new Trust.
Recommendation 10. You are asked to note this information which clearly will have an impact on the operations of the Sub-Committee.
| Contact: Ian Mackenzie Tel: 0191 383 3506 |
Attachments
Re-organisation in the NHS - 5 June.pdf