Primary Care Trust health pledges

NHS Logo

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust (PCT) have outlined in a three year Business Plan how it intends to improve the health of everyone living in the borough. Nationally the Health Service is changing and following the creation of the new boroughwide Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCTs in October 2006, the PCT believes they are now in a much stronger position to ensure these national changes are delivered locally in a way which best serves the needs of Rochdale communities.

The aim of the PCT is to help local people lead longer, healthier and happier lives and enjoy a standard of health comparable with the best in the country.

Delivery of the new business plan aims to improve the health of people in the Rochdale borough by:

• Strengthening the PCTs relationship with patients, partner organisations and local people.
• Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of its services
• Increasing investment in developing the skills, knowledge and experience of staff.

Local people in the borough – including Heywood, Middleton, Pennines and Rochdale – currently suffer some of the worst health in the country. There are many reasons for this; smoking habits, poor diets, lack of exercise, housing, unemployment and education all play a part. The PCT is working closely with the Rochdale Borough Council and other organisations to try and tackle all these issues and improve health for everyone.

In 3 years time the PCT has made a commitment to:

• Help over 5000 people to quit smoking
• Reduce deaths from heart disease by 40% (compared to 1995) – saving 137 lives a year
• Help 9000 people to lose weight
• Train 1200 people to manage their medical conditions
• Double the numbers of people we help to prevent heart disease or stroke

In five years time the PCT commitment will be to:

• Slow the growth in diabetes to less than 8%
• Help men to live 18 months longer and help women to live 12 months longer on average
• Help 80 more pregnant women quit smoking
• Save 25,000 people a year from going to hospital, by treating them in the community instead
• Support 5000 people through our health trainers to make changes in their lifestyles

In ten years time the PCT commitment will be to:

• Train 4000 more people to manage their medical conditions
• Support 17,000 people to prevent a heart attack or stroke
• Cut the numbers of people who are dying of smoke-related illness by 23% (compared to 2007)

John Pierce, Chairman of Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT said: “The plan is our way of ensuring we strive to help local people enjoy as good health as everyone else in the UK. This means giving local people the help and support they need to stay healthy and it means doing everything we can to improve local healthcare services for when people do fall ill.”

Trevor Purt, Chief Executive, of Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT added: “There are many barriers we have to overcome before we can significantly improve the health of local people but we believe that by working with the council and other organisations we can tackle some of the major challenges the local NHS currently faces."