Local NHS starts “Your Big Health Conversation”

Local NHS leaders are calling on local people to take part in 'Your Big Health Conversation’, to discuss the future of the local NHS.

The intention is to seek people’s views on a series of broad questions about how the NHS could and should change in future – for example, what a ‘seven-day NHS’ should mean locally, how the NHS should respond to pressures on GP services, or what people feel about the potential trade-off between creating centres of excellence and keeping services local.

The survey can be accessed here.

This initial phase will run for two months. After that, the NHS will consider how to seek further, targeted feedback from the local community about more specific issues in the coming months.

The engagement process is being launched now because the NHS faces a period of change. There are opportunities to build stronger networks of care, close to where people live, giving people better support than ever before. But at the same time there are also tough questions about how the NHS can live within its means when the need for healthcare is rising faster than the resources available, and how to cope with emerging shortages of key staff groups, such as GPs.

The three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) serving Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport, and South Eastern Hampshire, are running the “Your Big Health Conversation” process, and it will be open from 6 February until 7 April.

If you would like to find out more about the situation facing the local NHS, there is more information – and also the link to submit your views – on the Portsmouth CCG, Fareham and Gosport CCG, and the South Eastern Hampshire CCG websites.