About Darlington Primary Care Trust (PCT)

Darlington Primary Care Trust (PCT) which is known as NHS Darlington, is the accountable organisation for commissioning and delivery of healthcare for the residents of Darlington and from August 2008, it also provides community health services for the residents of County Durham and Darlington.

It employs over 3000 staff who work across County Durham and Darlington. The headquarters are found in Dr Piper House, King Street, Darlington.

The chief executive is Colin Morris who has been in post since 2002 and the chair of the PCT is Ken Greenfield. There are six non executive directors, five executive directors and the chair of the local Practice Based Commissioning Group who are full board members and are accountable to local people, the strategic health authority and the Secretary of State for Health.

NHS Darlington needs to ensure it achieves financial balance and holds commissioners and providers to account for their services. It has therefore reaffirmed its corporate objectives during 2008. These are to:

• 1. Improve the health and wellbeing of County Durham and Darlington residents
• 2. Achieve best value in all commissioned services
• 3. Ensure patient, carer and public involvement through stakeholder engagement
• 4. Provide locally based healthcare services for each care sector where this improves health outcomes and provided value for money
• 5. Achieve and exceed national performance targets to a level of excellence.

The vision of NHS Darlington is to be an innovative and developing organisation that in partnership, works to be the care provider of choice and deliver first class healthcare services, which puts patients and customers at the centre of all it does. In delivering the vision, it is recognised that the environment is one, subject to considerable change.

This includes changes in NHS policy, extended ‘out of hospital’ provision, structural changes in the delivery of PCT provided services, contestability and world class commissioning. The strategic direction of NHS Darlington will however, embrace these changes and continue to have patients at the heart of all it does.

NHS Darlington with its core visions and values can be seen as having two streams to allow it to meet its objectives. These are NHS Darlington with its corporate and overarching functions, including commissioning contracted to NHS County Durham, and County Durham and Darlington Community Health Services with its provider responsibilities.

County Durham and Darlington Community Health Service focuses on delivering high quality services, being the provider of choice, and becoming business minded to enable it to become competitive within the wider health arena with a highly skilled and motivated workforce. The clinical service areas are adult services, children’s services, specialist and primary care services, prison services and mental health services.

As a community provider, County Durham and Darlington Community Health Services work in partnerships and alliances to be the care provider of choice, by considering the opportunities provided by the Department of Health reforms to allow greater independence for community providers, forming an independent organisation over the next few years.

It has four key strategic objectives to be addressed:

• Sustainability, growth and partnership
  • Strengthen leadership and management systems
  • Ensure service meets commissioner intentions
  • Tangible growth in delivery of services which are fit for purpose
  • Develop strategic alliances/partnerships to support growth
• Improving stakeholder satisfaction
• Developing resources and workforce
• Improving quality and patient safety

NHS Darlington is determined to make the delivery of high quality health care its priority and it is expected that in the future, the community health services directorate will further develop into an autonomous body e.g. possibly a social enterprise trust or a community foundation trust, but of course, will remain a part of the NHS with sound governance arrangements.

Residents of County Durham and Darlington can be reassured these changes will come about with patients at the heart of decision making and dedicated professionals will be the people who will be leading this process.