West Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) was established on 1st April 2002 and is responsible for:

• Developing primary and community health care services
  
  
• Commissioning hospital and mental health services
  
  
• Improving the health of the local population and improving access to health services

The NHS community in Gloucestershire includes 6 NHS organisations:

There is a strong history of collaboration in Gloucestershire both between NHS partners and between the NHS and other agencies such as Local Authorities and the voluntary sector. In addition to the County Council the PCT covers 3 local authority boundaries and is actively engaged in 3 Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and the development of 3 community strategies.

Further information on these partnerships is available from the council websites at Gloucester, Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury.

The PCT is also an active partner of the Gloucestershire Strategic Partnership and further details may be obtained from the Gloucestershire County Council website.

Increasingly LSPs provide the forum through which the PCT engages with partners from local authority services, including housing and environment, and education, with voluntary and community agencies. The PCT has also strengthened its involvement with Crime and Disorder Partnerships.

A number of countywide groups exist which comprise representatives across each of the health organisations in Gloucestershire. These include the following (the organisation with lead for each group is identified in brackets):

• Gloucestershire Strategic Forum
  (West Gloucestershire PCT)
  
  
• Gloucestershire Planning Consortium
  (Cheltenham & Tewkesbury PCT)
  
  
• Gloucestershire Emergency & Acute Committee Group (Cotswold & Vale PCT)
  
  
• County Older People's Modernisation Group
  (West Gloucestershire PCT)
  
  
• Countywide CHD NSF Local Implementation Group (West Gloucestershire PCT)
  
  
• Three Counties Cancer Network Group
  (Cheltenham & Tewkesbury PCT)
  
  
• Joint Commissioning Board - Mental Health (Cheltenham & Tewkesbury PCT)
  
  
• Joint Commissioning Board - Older People
  (West Gloucestershire PCT)
  
  
• Children's Planning Group
  (Cotswold & Vale PCT)
  
  
• Local Workforce Development Group
  (Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust)

Some of the partnerships will involve information sharing, with agreed protocols and procedures between the organisations. The Trust will provide information, for which it is responsible, about meetings with partner organisations. We will not provide material that is exempt under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Data Protection Act 1998.

The following information about the Trust is available:

The majority of the above information can be obtained, togehter with other publications, can be obtained via the hyperlinks. In addition the following links may be helpful: