People in Buckinghamshire are being invited to take part in a series of involvement events in September to discuss how health services should be developed and delivered in the future. The invitation comes from Dr Graz Luzzi, Medical Director of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, and Dr Geoff Payne, Medical Director of the NHS Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Cluster.

Both organisations are jointly hosting the events to inform the new Better Healthcare in Bucks programme, which is developing new ways of delivering sustainable healthcare services that better meet the needs of local people. They are being held prior to formal public consultation on any proposed developments.

Buckinghamshire residents are invited to attend one of five involvement events to hear how the NHS in the county is considering developing services and to give their views on a range of related issues.

The Better Healthcare in Bucks programme takes forward some of the recommendations of the Care for the Future report, published earlier this month, which recommended that more should be done to provide care closer to patients’ homes, and that centralised and specialist hospital services should be available for patients requiring acute care.

The Better Healthcare in Bucks events will be held on: • Tuesday 13th September (afternoon) – Chalfont St Peter • Wednesday 14th September (evening) – Aylesbury • Wednesday 21st September (morning) –Buckingham • Tuesday 27th September (evening) – Wycombe • Thursday 29th September (afternoon) – Marlow There will be a marketplace event on Monday 3rd October in Saunderton to feedback what local people have said so far and to describe how proposals will be developed and shared going forward.

Anyone wanting to book a place at any of the event should email betterhealthcareinbucks@buckinghamshire.nhs.uk or call 01494 552256. Details of venue, time and programme will be provided on booking A survey is also being launched in September, to ascertain the views of people who cannot attend one of the events. The survey will be available on the ‘getting involved’ section of Buckinghamshire Healthcare’s website. Paper copies will also be available on request.

Dr Geoff Payne, Medical Director for NHS Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Cluster said: “We have already learnt from the Care for the Future report that we can improve patient outcomes be delivering care closer to people in their own homes and providing specialist care by expert staff in specialist facilities when they need it. Now we need to look at how we develop these broad ideas into a more detailed set of proposals, and this is where we need local people to give us their views.

“Over the last decade the way we diagnose and treat patients has improved beyond recognition. However there is still much more we need to address in order to ensure our health system is sustainable and able to meet the increasing challenges we are facing, and it is important that we involve local people, patients, partner organisations, clinicians, GPs and other NHS staff in these discussions to help us inform our plans for Better Healthcare in Bucks.”

Dr Graz Luzzi, Medical Director for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: “In Buckinghamshire, we are extremely lucky to have access to a wide range of high quality health services in primary care, the community and our hospitals and we are committed to ensuring that this continues to be the case. This includes strengthening and securing the future of all of our acute and community hospitals. If we are to achieve this, however, there will need to be changes, for example to reflect the development of more specialised hospital services and the fact that far more care is now delivered in the community and in people’s homes.

“We are keen to involve as many people as possible across our community, so we hope that people take the time to attend one of our events. What people tell us will be used to design future health services and help us to develop more concrete proposals for consultation later in the year.”

Based on information supplied by Emily MacDonald.