Alan Hodgkinson, PCT Chief Executive
The first challenge when writing about South Liverpool NHS Primary Care Trust is simply getting the reader past the name! It's like one of those Bulgarian midfielders whose name gives World Cup commentator's sleepless nights - so let's follow the example of the Brazilians instead. Pele is thankfully a lot easier on the tonsils than his real name of Edson Arantes do Nascimento so from now on we'll refer to our featured company as the Trust or the PCT.
The PCT operates out of the Matchworks and is responsible for the delivery of most NHS services to the 97,000 people who live in South Liverpool. In 2003/4 the PCT will invest more than £117 million in local health services. These include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, district nurses, health visitors and the primary care treatment centre at Sir Alfred Jones Memorial Hospital, plus contracts with GPs, dentists, chemists and opticians, contracts for all the hospital treatment of South Liverpool residents and funding of ambulance services.
Having achieved a lot in a short time (it was only set up in April 2002) the Trust is now aiming to create a close working partnership with the business community. The advantages to business are clear - a healthy workforce is good for everyone. Alan Hodgkinson, chief executive of the PCT, says: "Businesses have a key role to play through working with the PCT to develop healthy workplace initiatives to improve access to smoking cessation, encourage healthy eating, reduce harm from alcohol and drug misuse and increase physical activity. These also have major benefits for businesses by reducing sickness absence, improving profitability and enhancing their wider role within the community. I'm very excited about the huge gains we could make to health and employability by working together."
Chair of the PCT is Beatrice Fraenkel who has represented Grassendale as a Liverpool city councillor since 1986. Alan Hodgkinson has been a healthcare manager for most of his working life, including ten years in the private sector working for BUPA Health Services, nine years a chief executive of the Board of Health in Guernsey plus two years as executive director of a housing association before taking up his present post.
More details about the Trust are online at www.southliverpoolpct.nhs.uk.
