PCT Invites Public to complete ‘NHS Offer’ On-line Questionnaire

07/09/2007

An on-line questionnaire designed to help the public join in the conversation about future purchasing of health services and health improvement has been launched by Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust.

Under the 3 themes of ‘Improving Health and Well-being,’ ‘Care Closer to Home (Right Services, Right Place)’ and ‘Shorter Waiting Times: Improved Responses’, the PCT is asking the public to influence future priorities at an early stage by sharing their thoughts and preferences.

The launch of the questionnaire co-incides with a series of interactive locality events being held across the county involving community and patients representatives and other similar events with GPs and pensioner and service user groups.

The locality workshop events make use of interactive voting technology to ensure that everyone in the room has an equal opportunity to express their view. The on-line questionnaire includes the same briefing information and questions used during the events.

Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, Jan Stubbings said:

“The recent floods in Gloucestershire have reinforced the value of public bodies and local communities working together towards a common goal – to deliver the very best for local people both in terms of personal well-being and access to timely services.”

“The people of Gloucestershire deserve a Primary Care Trust that is ambitious in pursuit of excellence in health - making sure that services are sensitive to the needs of the individual, are accessible and encourage and maintain independence.

“It is important to us that people’s experiences of the NHS meet their expectations wherever possible. We must also ensure that as well as delivering high quality care and treatment, services represent value for money.”

“We have a number of national targets, which we are committed to achieving for the benefit of local patients. However, since the PCT came into being, we have been listening to what people have told us about what is important to them locally and this has allowed us to develop some ideas for ambitious local targets. We would also like the public’s views on these.”

The PCT has emphasised that the questionnaire and locality events are designed to be a ‘conversation’ and not a ‘consultation.’

Jan explained:

“This is not about us using information as a mandate to stop doing things, its about us getting a better understanding about how people view the challenges that face the NHS and their preferences on how best to meet them.”

The findings will help the PCT to develop its Strategic Framework for the next three years (2008/11). This Framework, which has also been referred to as the ‘NHS Offer,’ will set out the PCT’s aims and objectives over this period and will describe how it will invest its money.