Praise for provision of health and care services across Bolton

NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which oversees and purchases the health services for the borough, has been rated Outstanding following an annual assessment of its performance.

It is one of 24 CCGs out of a total 195 across the country to have achieved the top accolade as part of the annual checks by NHS England.

Bolton CCG was assessed for its provision of health and care services, sustainability and quality of leadership, against a performance benchmark set out in the Improvement and Assessment Framework (IAF).

Su Long, chief officer of Bolton CCG, said: “This is fantastic news and testament to the hard work of all CCG staff and our GP member practices.

"I’d like to thank them and our partners for their commitment in helping us achieve this rating.”

The assessment highlighted key areas of strength or good practice at Bolton, including cancer patient experience and patient referrals from their GP to cancer treatment within 62 days.

Praise was also given for its annual health checks of people with a learning disability, dementia diagnosis rates, access to a GP outside of usual opening hours, and staff satisfaction, to name a few.

Wirin Bhatiani, chairman of Bolton CCG, said: "As a CCG we continuously strive to do what’s best for our local residents in terms of providing them access to the most appropriate and best quality health services.

"We are always aiming for better health and care provision in Bolton and we work closely with our partners to achieve this.

"We also value the thoughts and opinions of Bolton people, and work hard to effectively engage them shaping health services for the borough."

In addition to the overall Outstanding rating, Bolton CCG also received a Green Star rating for the framework’s quality and leadership indicator and community engagement indicator.

These categories looks at the CCG’s vision and strategy, governing body, management of commissioning and finance, as well as day-to-day practice.