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Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group: for a healthy Liverpool In this leaflet: - A guide to Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group and its priorities for the city - Introducing The Healthy Liverpool Programme - How to get involved What is Liverpool CCG? Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is the organisation responsible for planning the city s NHS care. CCGs were set up to replace Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), which were abolished on 31 March 2013. Liverpool CCG spends around 730m a year on NHS services for nearly half a million people. These services include the care you receive at hospitals like the Royal Liverpool Hospital and Alder Hey Children s Hospital, as well as care that takes place in the community such as speech and language therapy and rehabilitation services. Together with NHS England, we also have responsibility for setting the standards that patients can expect from their GP practice, such as extended opening hours. Each of Liverpool s 95 GP practices is a member of Liverpool CCG, so your doctor can have a direct influence on the decisions that are made about your health services. The CCG is run by a Governing Body which includes local GPs, a hospital doctor, a nurse, and two lay members one with responsibility for patient engagement, and one with responsibility for governance who is also the deputy chair. The Governing Body is chaired by Dr Nadim Fazlani, who has worked as a GP in the Kensington area of the city for more than 20 years. CCGs were introduced to move NHS decision-making closer to patients, and we want local people to be part of the discussion about health in Liverpool see the end of this leaflet for ways you can get involved. 2
What does the CCG want to achieve for the city? People in Liverpool are more likely to suffer from poor health and die at a younger age than people in many other parts of the country. Inequalities even exist between different areas of Liverpool people living in some parts of the city can expect to live significantly longer than those in other areas. By 2020 Liverpool CCG wants the city s health to have improved so that these gaps in health and life expectancy are reduced. At the same time we want all Liverpool patients to receive first-class health care, from an NHS which is able to deliver what we need both now and in the future. What are the CCG s priorities? During 2012 the CCG worked with its members (the city s GP practices), key organisations like hospitals and Liverpool City Council, and local groups and residents, to identify key priorities for the city s NHS. This included the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA); a process which helps us understand Liverpool s health, care and wellbeing needs, both now and in the future. Having this information means we can focus our time and resources on those issues which are the biggest problems for our local population and put the most pressure on our health system. Liverpool CCG s priority areas are as follows: Cancer End of life (enabling all adults with life-limiting illness to live as good a life as possible until they die) Children and maternity 3
Long-term conditions: - Cardiovascular disease (heart disease) - Diabetes - Respiratory conditions (for example, asthma and COPD) - Integrated Care (joining up health and social care services for people with complex long-term conditions; proactively supporting them to manage their own care and avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital where they can) Urgent care (for example, the GP Out of Hours service and accident & emergency) Planned care (routine services which take place in the community) Mental health Learning disabilities Dementia Alcohol problems In recent years people in Liverpool have seen real improvements in the services offered by their GP practices for example, you can now contact all practices between 8am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday and the CCG will also be continuing to develop this area of work. The Healthy Liverpool Programme The NHS in Liverpool needs to adapt if it is to face future challenges, such as an ageing population and increases in long-term conditions, while also improving the health of residents. Liverpool CCG s approach to tackling this situation is called The Healthy Liverpool Programme, which will start this summer with a detailed examination of our local health service. This process will help us find out what we need to do to make sure that the NHS can provide high-quality services now and in the years to come. We ll be 4
doing this work in close partnership with the city s NHS organisations and Liverpool City Council. The CCG wants to celebrate and protect the health services we have in Liverpool the city has the highest concentration of specialist NHS Trusts outside of London. We also have great health facilities there is already a network of neighbourhood health centres located across the city (including nine purpose-built centres), and over the next few years hundreds of millions of pounds will be invested in a new Alder Hey Children s Hospital, a new Mersey Care mental health facility in Walton, and a new Royal Liverpool Hospital. It s important to remember that a strong, effective NHS in Liverpool isn t just about health the NHS employs a huge number of local people and has the potential to attract new jobs and investment. By developing a health service which is fit for the future we can bring real benefits to the city as a whole. The Healthy Liverpool Programme will consider each setting where care takes place from patients own homes (self care), to major hospitals. It will begin by looking ahead to five years time and asking: what services will patients need? And: where is the best place for patients to receive these services? When the CCG has this information it can start making proposals for improving the way that the NHS in Liverpool works. Until The Healthy Liverpool Programme gets underway we don t know what proposals might be made for the future, but the CCG wants to make sure that everyone in the city is kept informed of what s happening. Once we can share more information we will let the public know how they can get involved. How can members of the public get involved with Liverpool CCG s work? Patients are at the heart of the NHS and Liverpool CCG wants local people to be actively involved in making sure that services meet their needs. There are a number of ways you can get involved, including: 5
Liverpool CCG patient events the CCG holds regular open events to give members of the public a chance to hear more about our work and give their views. Visit www.liverpoolccg. nhs.uk, email enquiries@liverpoolccg.nhs.uk or call (0151) 295 8607 to find out when the next one will be. Healthwatch the new health and social care champion, Liverpool Healthwatch replaced Liverpool s Local Involvement Network (LINk) in April 2013. To find out more visit www.healthwatchliverpool.co.uk or call 0300 7777 007 (calls cost the same as to a local landline number and Healthwatch can call you back to keep your bill down). Patient Participation Groups (PPG) These are groups set up in GP practices to enable patients and practices to work together to improve services, promote health and improve quality of care. Nearly 70% of Liverpool practices have a PPG. Speak to your local GP practice to find out whether they have one, and if they don t then let them know that you re interested in starting one. We re always looking for new ways to engage with local people, and we welcome suggestions about how best to do this email communications@liverpoolccg.nhs.uk. More information about Liverpool CCG is available on our website www.liverpoolccg.nhs.uk If you require this document in Braille, large print or an alternative language please email communications@liverpoolccg.nhs.uk, or call 0151 296 7000 and ask to speak to a member of the communications team. 6