THE face of local health services in Leigh and Wigan has changed with the setting up of three primary care groups.

The new-look groups will now be involved in getting to know the health needs of the local population.

And the groups will be responsible for arranging the right services to meet ideas, deciding how resources should be used to develop local services and negotiating with local trusts to deliver services in their own particular areas.

They will also be involved in developing local primary care service by helping GPs and other clerical staff to improve the range and quality of services available on their premises.

Groups will include GP representatives, two nurse representatives, a Social Services representative, a community 'lay' representative who lives in the PCG area and a Non Executive Health Authority member.

The groups will operate as committees of the health authority.

The three groups in Wigan and Leigh are: Leigh - covering Leigh Central, Leigh East, Hope Carr, Bedford/Astley, Tyldesley East, Hindsford and Atherton.

Ashton - covering Hindley, Hindley Green, Lightshaw, Abram, Ashton/Golborne, Bryn and Ince.

Wigan covers the remainder of the borough.

All formal meetings of the Primary Care Groups will be publicised in advance and will be open to members of the public.

Mike Ruane, Chief Executive of Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, said:"Primary Care Groups are an exciting innovation.

"They will be committees of the Health Authority and their establishment will mean that decisions about local services can be made as close as possible to the communities we serve.

"That will make health care more responsive to the needs of local people." Chairman of the Leigh group is Dr Deepak Trivedi who has a practice in Leigh and Abram.

Other members are:

Mr Ken Cuthbertson (chief executive); Dr Ashok Kumar Atrey, Dr Mark Cottrill; Dr Morris Doublet-Stewart; Dr Ajoy Ghosh; Dr Stephen Geoghegan; Dr Paul Richardson; Mr Roland Young; Anita Marsland; Rev Bill Baldwin (Rector of Atherton); Alison Burt and Sally Forshaw.

Chairman of the Ashton group is Dr Sanjay Pitalia with chief executive Simon Arden-Davies.

Group members are: Dr Abu Anis; Dr Raymond Hart; Dr Justin Tankard; Dr Ananada Mukherjee; Dr Janki Goil; Dr Vivekanandamurty Kadiyala; Mrs Patricia Morgan; Anita Marsland; Mrs Eunice Smethurst; Jennifer Sale and Carole Butcher.

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