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North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust |
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About Us
Our Role
What is a Primary Care Trust?
A Primary Care Trust takes the lead in the local health economy: in shaping, planning, commissioning and in some areas, providing a range of health services.
The Three Core Functions of the Primary Care Trust
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Engaging with the local population to improve health and well-being.
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Commissioning a comprehensive and equitable range of high quality, responsive and efficient. services, within allocated resources, across all service sectors.
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Directly providing high quality responsive and efficient services where this gives best value.
Primary Care Trusts Relationships and Accountability
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Perform their functions for, and with, their local population in pursuit of equality, quality, responsiveness, innovation, efficiency and affordability.
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Lead their local health system; develop and deliver their functions through effective partnerships – particularly practice-based commissioners with local authorities (e.g. in developing local area agreements) and with a full range of different types of providers.
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Accountable to their population directly and through local authority Overview and Scrutiny groups and to the Strategic Health Authority (SHA). Primary Care Trusts operate within the framework of the Department of Health policy; they are held to account for this by the SHA not directly by the Department of Health.
Our Objectives
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To achieve health outcomes for the population of North Yorkshire and York that are consistently within the upper quartile in England.
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To develop a sustainable financial framework which will provide resources for service development and support infrastructure and contingency once debt has been repaid.
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To be the employer of choice within the PCT health economy.
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To engage with public and patients whether through specific programme or locations or through stakeholder or voluntary sector representation.
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To develop the organisation so that it is ‘fit for purpose’ and prepared for any required change in configuration, particularly in relation to community and mental health services.
How Primary Care Trusts are governed
An executive team of directors manages the day to day running of the Primary Care Trust (PCT). They are also members of a board that governs the PCT. This consists of the Chair of the PCT alongside local people who contribute as non-executive directors, to provide a strategic overview and direction.
The board takes decisions on policy and strategy, and delegates specific functions and responsibilities to its committees and Executive Directors. The Senior Management team delivers the decisions of the board.
How Primary Care Trusts are monitored
The Primary Care Trust (PCT) is required by the Department of Health to implement the modernisation agenda and initiatives such as waiting time targets as set out by the Government. Each region in England has a Strategic Health Authority (SHA), which in its strategic role of developing health services within its area manages the performance of PCTs. While the PCTs take the lead role in shaping the local health economy, the SHA develops the overall vision of how health can be improved and what facilities need to be in place to achieve health improvements.
