A radical shake-up of community Health services will mean more power to Harold people, according to local health chiefs.

And, they say, it will enable residents to take action to combat health problems facing the more deprived areas of Havering, including Harold Hill.

The Barking and Havering Health Authority this week launched its formal consultation period on proposals to create a single Primary Care Trust in the borough by April next year, in line with government plans for the modernisation of the NHS.

Now it is urging residents in Harold Hill and Harold Wood to have their say on the plans, which are designed to bring primary and community health services under one umbrella and closer to the people who use them.

The authority's joint chief executive, Susan Williams, says the proposed changes constitute "one of the most significant reorganisations of the health service" since it was founded in 1948.

The new trust, with its own annual budget of around £150million, will be a development from the three existing Primary Care Groups (PCGs) which serve Upminster, including Harold, Hornchurch and Romford.

But it will contain 'locality directorates' based upon the PCGs, allowing GPs and nursing staff to target specific health needs in areas such as Harold Hill, which suffers higher rates of cancer deaths, coronary heart disease and serious mental illness than other areas in the Upminster PCG.

In addition, it will work closely with social services and with the new joint Harold Hill and Harold Wood Community Area Forum to identify problems at the local level.

"It will be a statutory body in its own right and will be accountable to the Health Authority, which will be responsible for monitoring the Primary Care Trusts and making sure that they deliver their agreed targets," said Ms Williams.

"The board will be chaired by a lay person and will have a majority of lay membership."

The authority's chairman, Sue Young, said: "It will give us the flexibility and freedom to provide care for patients on the basis of local needs and priorities. It's the best chance we have ever had to get everyone involved in primary and community health care working together to respond to local demands.

"This will help us organise our services more effectively than ever before, bringing many services closer to home. We hope people will take the time to come and hear about it."

The proposals are timed to coincide with the creation of a single combined acute trust, dealing with hospitals, and a new mental health trust for the boroughs of Havering and Redbridge by April next year.

There will be a series of public meetings before the consultation period ends on September 15.

For more information, or a copy of the consultation document, call Wendy Buckley at the Barking and Havering Health Authority on 020 8532 6243.

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