FIND OUT HOW NHS SERVICES ARE CHANGING

Face-to-face and online events being held

A SERIES of meetings are being staged to help explain important changes to health services across North Staffordshire.

It is the first time that the organisation running NHS services in North Staffordshire has organised face-to-face meetings since the start of the pandemic.

There will be a total of 11 events, with nine being held face-to-face and another two being held online over Microsoft Teams.

The meetings will outline the replacement of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-trent’s six Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGS) by a single Integrated Care Board (ICB) which takes place on July 1 this year.

There will also be round-table discussions on the new People and Communities Strategy, which looks at how the health and care system will involve local people, staff and partners, as services evolve.

But each event will spend some time explaining what the changes, in the way services are commissioned and delivered, will mean for local people.

Prem Singh, Independent chair of the Staffordshire and Stoke-ontrent Integrated Care System (ICS), said: “Our health and care system is evolving and we are working hard to deliver the national changes by July 1. At the heart of our work is delivering more joined-up care and delivering better and fairer outcomes for local people.

“We want to keep people informed and involved at every stage of this journey and share what these changes will mean for local people.

“I’m looking forward to being able to get out and about in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-trent, listening to people through face-to-face events for the first time in over two years. I hope they will join us.”