Health chiefs meet union as fears grow over fast changes

A major restructuring of the county's community healthcare has begun as the Government looks to bring the provision of key services down to a more grassroots level.

However, union officials from Unison have expressed concerns that the programme is being pushed through too quickly to try to meet Government deadlines.

Unison regional officer Ray Gray said: "The timescale they are proposing is ridiculous witha plan to award contracts later this year.

"When you consider that we are talking about the whole of the community services in North Yorkshire area, this is far too an important issue to rush through on the whim of the board."

The NHS North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), confirmed yesterday that an agreement must be in place by the autumn covering services such as community nursing, physiotherapy and podiatry.

Senior officials have stressed that the restructuring will not affect front-line services as it will focus on alternative management. However, a spokesman did admit that the overhaul could result in some redundancies from the existing management structure.

While the private sector could in theory end up providing some services, it is thought that most contracts will go to existing NHS organisations.

NHS North Yorkshire and York's chief executive, Jayne Brown, maintained extensive consultations had been carried out since last year ahead of last week's decision to push ahead with the restructuring programme.

She said: "The aim is to allow primary care trusts, such as us, to concentrate on our core business of securing good quality health services and promoting good health amongst the population."

The Government has instigated new national policies which mean that PCTs are having to split the commissioning side of the organisations from the community and mental health services they currently provide.

NHS North Yorkshire and York must agree on the new structure to provide the services by the end of October even though the changes do not come into force until April next year.