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PRIMARY CARE TRUST
NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are statutory bodies responsible for delivering better health care and health improvements to their local area. They grew out of committees or Primary Care Groups of the former Health Authorities (see article Strategic Health Authority).
PCTs have their own budgets and set their own priorities, within the overriding priorities set by the relevant Strategic Health Authority they belong to, and Department of Health. They directly provide a range of community health services; they provide funding for general practitioners and medical prescriptions; they also commission hospital and mental health services from appropriate NHS trusts or from the private sector. Present government directives envisage that at least 15% of services will eventually be commissioned from the private or voluntary sectors.
PCTs are managed by a team of Executive Directors headed by a Chief Executive. These directors are members of the Trust's Board, together with non-executive directors appointed after open advertisement. The Chairman of the Trust is a non-executive director. Other board members may include representatives from the Trust's Professional Executive Committee (PEC) (elected from local GPs, community nurses, pharmacists, dentists etc.)
The finance and much of the agenda of PCTs is effectively determined by directives from the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) or the Department of Health.
In 2005 the Government announced that the number of Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts would be reduced, the latter by about 50%.
For listing of PCTs as at 22/11/2005 see List of Primary Care Trusts in England
See also:
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