CYP Now - Analysis: Primary care trusts - Good for some, bad for many others

The Government has pushed back the deadlines for changes to the structure of primary care trusts, but although it will come late, the shake-up will still go ahead. Asha Goveas examines the impact reforms could have on children's services.

It hasn't been easy putting Milton Keynes' children and young people'splan together, admits Dr Diane Gray, public health consultant at thetown's primary care trust. But, she insists that having shared bordershas helped overcome the inevitable differences between the localauthority and the trust.

So it's little surprise that the authority is lobbying hard againstproposals to create a Buckinghamshire-wide primary care trust that couldresult in the loss of these hard-won links (Children Now, 26 October-1November).

A step backwards

Vanessa Gwynn, corporate director of learning and development at MiltonKeynes Borough Council, is frank. "It's a huge step backwards. What hashelped us enormously is that we share boundaries with key statutoryagencies. Uncertainty being introduced at this point in a major changeprocess is most unwelcome."

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