HEALTHY PEOPLE HEALTHY LIVES HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
NHS Oldham was set up in 2002 and is the local primary care trust responsible for making decisions about where to allocate money, staff and services to meet the health needs we identify across the borough.
We are currently working closely with Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which includes every family doctor in Oldham and is led by a Governing Body. The CCG will take over responsibility for health services from April 2013. Click here to read more about Oldham CCG and its plans for the future.
On May 3, 2011 the Greater Manchester PCT cluster was established, known as NHS Greater Manchester. A cluster (or joint) Board has taken on the statutory functions of the ten primary care trusts in Greater Manchester, including NHS Oldham.
NHS Oldham covers the same area as Oldham Council, with a resident population of nearly 220,000.
We work with GPs and other clinical colleagues, along with patients and the general public, to secure (or commission) services from family doctors (GPs), hospitals, dentists, pharmacists, opticians, mental health organisations and specialist hospitals and teams, as well as a range of other providers.
We also invest in programmes for people and families to stay well and in the prevention of illness and disease. And we are responsible for making sure we have robust plans in place to deal with any major emergencies, such as health outbreaks like swine flu.
We will also improve outcomes from our stop smoking services and improve access to high quality primary care and community services.
It is our job to ensure NHS services in Oldham are meeting nationally-set targets, aimed at improving people’s experiences.
Over the last seven years we have been helping to deliver the LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) programme, which has seen new health and well being centres in Moorside, Glodwick and the town centre. Another one in Royton will be complete in the autumn and options are being explored in Shaw and Crompton. Plans to develop services in Fitton Hill, Chadderton and the Saddleworth area are being looked at as part of a boroughwide approach taking into account existing NHS and other facilities. You can read more about these developments here.
We also make sure the values in the NHS Constitution are upheld, which includes patients’ rights to be involved in planning healthcare services, considering proposals for changes and contributing to decisions affecting those services.
Every PCT is part of a regional Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and the North West SHA (NHS North West) has responsibility for the performance of our region’s primary care trusts, including NHS Oldham. In October 2011, NHS North West, NHS North East and NHS Yorkshire and the Humber - the three strategic health authorities in the North of England were placed under a single manangement framework and now work together as NHS North of England.
We work closely with a with a broad range of statutory, voluntary, community, faith and independent organisations to improve health and well-being. Examples include Oldham Council, The Oldham College and Oldham Interfaith forum.
Across Greater Manchester, different PCTs take the lead in different areas of healthcare. We are the co-ordinating PCT for the Christie hospital and the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust contracts.