Dear Subscriber

There are only 152 of them, yet they control £3 out of every £4 pounds spent on healthcare in the UK. They make decisions affecting your life every day, yet most of us avoid them and are even scared of them. What are they? Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), of course.

PCTs present an opportunity for health care professionals, local people, social services and the wider community to work together to shape services and bring decision making closer to local communities. Just like you, people working in the PCT want to make alliances, want to do the very best job they can and do whatever they can to improve the healthcare of the local population.

 
 

With all the changes and mergers that have been happening recently, a large number of the PCT management have been disestablished or the posts are being filled by independent project managers.

Many PCTs are confused. The split into commissioning and provider parts of the organisation, while maybe not planned, has resulted in some managers sitting on both sides of the fence, so performance managing themselves in another guise…For example, a large PCT such as Surrey serves a population of over 1 million with a budget of £1.2 billion to spend on local healthcare.

The PCTs have great websites, packed with information such as demographics and their vision for the future– just for you.

Many of you in the NHS reading this see your local PCT as a threat, but you really shouldn’t be concerned. You may be losing business to the independent sector, which we believe is probably not because your service was inferior, but due to how you developed your hospitals' bid. The independent sector has been writing bids for a long time and you've got some catching up to do to impress the PCT issuing the tender.
 
 

Well, there is nothing like getting to know your enemy ("Keep your friends close and your enemies closer"), so Inspire Change conducted some research amongst those PCTs we know well, to find out what their frustrations and complications are and what they’d recommend about improving communication between all parties. This was quite insightful! Does this sound like you?

  • Your answer phone is the most efficient member of your team.
  • You rarely return calls from your PCT.
  • You can't be bothered to keep up to date with all the changes, 'because it will all change anyway' and then you get annoyed with the PCT when they tell you it has changed!
  • You adopt a 'head in the sand' management approach.
  • You have never read the Director of Health's report, or visited the PCT website.

To improve your relationship with your PCT, have a look at our top tips for working more closely with PCTs and our Business Plan template. If you need help completing the plan or if you have any queries on PCTs in general, please call Martin Clarke or Hilary Shields on 01908 511572.
 

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