Country-leading care project will be winner

Ashton MP Angela Rayner

AN ambitious project to create the first fully-integrated health and social care service in the country has been praised by Failsworth MP Angela Rayner.

The proposals will provide Tameside with five local community care teams, a new urgent integrated service, and Tameside General Hospital with an elective surgical care centre, A&E and maternity services.

The new way of working will place a greater emphasis on prevention rather than cure and keeping people as healthy and independent as possible.

Angela Rayner said: “It is much better for people to be treated properly at home and in their local community than in hospital. But the local trust needs the right level of funding to make this ambition a reality. It also needs to work very differently, in a strong partnership with Tameside Council and others, to ensure that community health and social services are delivered to time, on budget and are of the right quality.”

The plans come in a report from the Contingency Planning Team of Monitor, the sector regulator for health services in England and was released on the same day the Tameside Hospital was officially removed from special measures following significant improvements.