GP Jim O'Donnell will help shape future of health services in Slough

The new Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Slough prepares to take control of Slough's health care provisions on April 1. The group will be made up of GPs and will be responsible for buying or commissioning health and care services.

The CCG replaces NHS Berkshire East, formerly known as Primary Care Trusts (PCT).

Reporter Francis Batt spoke to the group's chairman who is veteran Farnham Road Surgery GP Doctor Jim O'Donnell. He asked him questions about the future of the health service. 

How is the new Clinical Commissioning Group or CCG made up?

"It will consist of four GPs, two nurses, a consultant (from a hospital outside the area so he does not have a conflict of interest) and five officers as well as two executive and three non-executive members. The CCG will confer closely with all 16 medical practices in the borough of Slough and we will be advised by the Public Health Agency which monitors diseases and health trends in the area and is part of the local authority."

What are the important health issues in Slough? 

"About a third of our schoolchildren are overweight or obese, above the national average.

"Diabetes is the biggest medical issue with heart disease coming second. It is allied to diet and lifestyle and ethnicity comes into it too as there is a genetic susceptability.

"Slough gets the ninth lowest amount of government funding in the country because it is in the South-east. But there is a lot of deprivation and child poverty and that means health inequality. There are areas of Slough where people just don't live as long as in other parts. We have to eliminate that."

How do you start to tackle issues like this? 

"You start with families. We need to get information to young mothers and to our schoolchildren about healthy eating and exercise. We need to work with the local authority to try and achieve a town with more parks and less unhealthy food venues. We will be working in partnership with the local authority in a way we never have before."

How do you answer people who say that abolishing the old Primary Care Trusts and the new CCGs is yet another example of inflicting disrupting change on the NHS?

"Continual change is something we are stuck with. How else can you have continual improvement?

"We are educating our GPs - half day sessions every month - to change by finding new pathways. This means not wasting money prescribing drugs that are not suitable for the patient's condition and can actually cause harm.

"It means not sending people unnecessarily to hospital for tests when they have palpitations when we can fit them with a machine they can wear, that will reveal if there is anything wrong without the need for a hospital stay.

"We have already got our primary care budget down from £20million to £15 or £16million over a year like this and the saved money can be used for services such as physiotherapy."

Does this mean a whole change of culture under the new CCGs? 

"It means patients becoming proactive and less passive.

"GPs themselves are being asked to do different things. Patients also have to take responsibility for playing their part, not just expecting the doctor to do it for them. Losing weight, for example, is a good way of treating diabetes. The patient can take responsibility for this themselves. You can consult Patient.co.uk online which is the most important addresses anyone can have.

"But of course anyone with serious concerns should always see the doctor."

Will your patients see less of you - now that you have this new responsibility? 

"I'm cutting my surgery time by a half."