Have your say at Pennine Acute Trust's annual public meeting

Visitors to the annual public meeting of the Pennine Acute Trust will be able to find out more about the organisation which runs Rochdale Infirmary and has services at Birch Hill Hospital.

Trust chairman John Jesky said: "The year ending March 2008 was a successful one for the Trust. It saw a reduction in waiting times, a 25% drop in MRSA cases and the first moves in a reconfiguration implementation programme to create centres of excellence."

The annual public meeting takes place at 6.30pm on Tuesday 23 September at the Education Centre, Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Old Road, Bury BL9 7TD. Doors will be open from 5.30pm.

The meeting is open to members of the general public, with many local patients, organisations and patient groups expected to attend.

It will be followed at 7pm by a series of informal workshops, hosted by Trust Board members and clinical staff, who will be on hand to listen to participants’ views and suggestions.

The workshops will address the following topics:

Healthy Futures and Making it Better – two programmes designed to create safe, high-quality health services for residents across the area.

Infection prevention.

Stroke services.

Advancing Quality – a programme led by the Strategic Health Authority which is initially focusing on improving the quality of care in five areas of healthcare, namely heart attacks, pneumonia, heart failure, hip and knee replacement and heart-by-pass operations.

John Jesky continued: “We had a good turnout at the last annual public meeting and, after a year of success, we’re hoping for the same on this occasion. The topics which we are discussing in the workshops are frequently in the headlines. As well as hearing about our achievements, the event gives patients, their relatives and community groups a chance to make their views known to the senior clinicians and managers leading our work.”