New Gloucestershire PCT Chair announced

31/07/2006

The National Appointments Commission has today confirmed the appointment of Ruth FitzJohn as Chair of the new Gloucestershire PCT.

Ruth has a wealth of NHS experience and has been Chair of the ‘3 Star’ Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Primary Care Trust since April 2002. Before that, Ruth was Vice Chair of the former East Gloucestershire NHS Trust for 4 years and came to the health service following an international career in IT management and strategic planning.

The new Gloucestershire PCT will be formed on 1 st October and will replace the three existing Primary Care Trusts in Gloucestershire (Cotswold and Vale, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury and West Gloucestershire).

Gloucestershire PCT will play an increasing role in supporting frontline NHS healthcare workers – such as GPs and Nursing staff – to have more direct involvement in purchasing the services they feel their patient needs.

The PCT will also provide community based services that meet the needs of local patients, but at the same time strive to achieve greater financial stability for the longer term. It will also work with staff, local partners and the public to improve the health of local communities .

Chair of Gloucestershire PCT, Ruth FitzJohn said:

“I am thrilled to be offered the opportunity to serve this great county of ours for another four years, and will do everything I can to lead the board of your new Gloucestershire PCT to success.”

“Without doubt, this is proving a very tough year for Gloucestershire's health services, and the merging of the three current PCTs into one will be a vital contribution to reducing overheads and increasing efficiency, whilst carrying forward the important local learning from each of the three.”

“NHS services are at such a turning point in Gloucestershire today as we reshape for the future and to fit our means, so I will put clinically led services, proper attention to partnerships and good financial management at the top of the agenda in order to deliver the very best services possible for the residents of Gloucestershire.”

“Our new Primary Care Trust can help us to be healthier, keep more of us out of hospital and deliver a range of health services closer to home.”

“We can only plan and deliver these goals by respecting the skills and experience of our health professionals and strengthening joint working with social care and a wide range of local partners.”

Local PCTs have already been developing a range of exciting services, which mean that more patients are receiving excellent standards of care from NHS and Social Care staff within their own homes and in their local communities such as rehabilitation services and management of long term illness including diabetes and heart disease.

Ruth FitzJohn added:

“We must also ensure that our new countywide PCT helps to strengthen working relationships across the NHS. As a single organisation we will be well placed to work even more effectively with our colleagues in the Hospitals Trust, the Partnership Trust

and the new Great Western Ambulance Trust. This can only improve communication and the co-ordination of patient care in Gloucestershire for the benefit of our patients.”

“As a countywide organisation we must retain a local focus so that the valuable working relationships we have built with GP practices, district and borough councils and a wide range of committed community and voluntary groups are not weakened. Our future success will depend on this co-operation and joint working.”

“We also have an important responsibility to support our staff through this period of change and we are committed to doing this.”

Chair of NHS South West, Sir Michael Pitt welcomed the announcement of Ruth FitzJohn’s appointment:

“Ruth FitzJohn has an excellent track record within the NHS locally and has overseen an organisation for the past few years that has been extremely successful in developing services that mean that more people than ever before are receiving care outside of hospital in their local community.”

“I know that Ruth is hugely ambitious for what can be achieved in Gloucestershire and is committed to putting the key aim of improving people’s lifetime health experience at the heart of the organisation.”