About Us
North Somerset PCT was established in April 2002 to ensure the provision of the highest quality healthcare services to the residents of North Somerset and covers an area over 145² miles. The Trust serves a very diverse population of 199,000 ranging from communities in the wealthy suburbs of Bristol to rural villages and the communities of the popular seaside towns. The PCT shares its boundaries with North Somerset Council and has a unique diversity of health care providers in its region including small, local hospitals and the large, high profile acute and teaching Trusts of Bristol.
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Particular features of the population profile in North Somerset are:
- An older age distribution than for Avon as a whole; the difference is particularly marked in Weston-Super-Mare where 11.2% of the population is aged over 75 years compared with the Avon figure of 7.6%.
- Increasing numbers of older people; it is estimated that the number of people aged over 75 or more has increased by nearly 13% since 1996 and is now over 19,000.This is significant because most older people are relatively fit and active, but impairments tend to increase as people get older;
- A High number of nursing and residential homes, particularly in the Clevedon, Portishead and Weston-Super-Mare areas;
- A relatively small number of people from black and other minority ethnic populations: census figures from 1991 indicate that 1.2% of the population is from black and minority ethnic groups: 0.4% is Asian or Asian-British, 0.3% Black or Black-British, and 0.5% from other minority ethnic groups;
- There is a large transient population in the seaside towns which have a significant impact on the health and social services. Map of Trust area
The Trust was set up with the following objectives:
- To improve the health of the community and reduce health inequalities in the population of North Somerset.
- To develop primary and community health services.
- To commission secondary care services for the population of North Somerset.
The Primary Care Trust is accountable to:
- The NHS South West Strategic Health Authority. This will be through a local accountability agreement and agreed health improvement programmes.
- The public of North Somerset, through various existing public and voluntary organisations
- The Health and Well-being Scrutiny Committee of North Somerset Council
- The Department of Health through the NHS Executive.
In carrying out our role we are committed to the following:
- We wish to ensure the delivery of the best possible care for the population of North Somerset within the money allocated to us from central Government.
- We will work with and for the communities of North Somerset and our services will compliment those provided through other statutory, voluntary and independent sector organisations.
- We respect and value all individuals whether they are staff, patients or members of the public.
