What services are provided locally?
Primary Care Services - Family Doctors, Pharmacists, Dentists and Optometrists
Primary Care services are usually the first point of contact people have with the NHS. Services provided by GPs (family doctors) and their teams are based around 33 GP practices (surgeries) in West Gloucestershire. Working alongside GPs there are nursing and therapy staff employed by the PCT as well as staff including practice nurses, receptionists and practice managers who are usually employed by the family doctors.
Services are also provided by pharmacists, dentists and optometrists.
Each of these professions provides important advice, prevention
and treatment services to local people. A number of pharmacists are
now working closely with GP practices on schemes to improve the
prescribing support to patients.
Community Healthcare
Community teams provide a range of services including district
nursing , health visiting, physiotherapy , occupational therapy, speech
and language therapy, podiatry (previously called chiropody) and
community midwifery/maternity services. These services may be
provided through GP practices, health centres, local hospitals or in
patients’ own homes.
Hospital Services
The community hospitals in the Forest of Dean at Lydney and
Cinderford (Dilke Memorial) provide a range of services with inpatient
beds, day surgery, outpatients, radiology and minor injury units. The
hospitals are supported by family doctors and community health staff
and also depend on the wide-ranging skills of visiting doctors from the
bigger general hospitals such as Gloucestershire Royal.
How can we achieve a better service and better health for all?
West Gloucestershire PCT 's plans are guided by three key principles-improving health, improving health services and developing and maintaining effective partnerships.
Our top ten plans to provide a better local service are to:
- Further improve access to services provided by family doctors and staff who work with them
- develop services in partnership with Social Services to help support patients who are ready to leave hospital and also those who want to remain at home
- involve our patients and the public in all areas of the PCT’s work
- work with local partners to support people in Gloucestershire to lead healthier lives. Good health promotion advice can help many people reduce their risks of serious disease later in life
- increase our investment in mental health services, with a particular focus on children and older people with mental health needs. Developments will include recruiting community mental health workers to support Family Doctors and their staff
- continue to develop closer working with Social Services to ensure that patients receive a co-ordinated and quality service
- ensure everyone gets the right care and treatment at the right time. We can do this by increasing the range of services in the local community and reducing inappropriate use of emergency services such as A&E
- work with colleagues at the Hospital Trust to ensure that waiting times for hospital treatment are reduced further. Work is also underway to increase the choices for patients about when, where and from whom they receive their care
- ensure that the Primary Care Trust responds to the specific health needs of the local population, such as more effective management of chronic illness in primary care e.g. Asthma or Diabetes
- ensure that all of the services we offer are of high quality with patient safety a top priority.
