What are the three biggest challenges facing you?
City: Within Leicester, people live up to eight years less in some areas compared to others, due to unfair differences in health among different groups.
Heart and lung disease are the two major causes of people dying earlier here, so it is vital we tackle those issues.
We need to improve the availability and range of services offered by GPs and to solve the problems of too many people using A&E unnecessarily.
East Leics: We need to ensure that high-quality, effective health services are available, in the right place and at the right time for our patients.
Commissioning services are needed now but with a view to the future, to ensure that we are preparing adequately for our ageing population, and we will also be playing our part in addressing significant pressures on the urgent care system.
West Leics: The expected growth in the number of people aged over 60 will bring associated increases in long-term conditions.
Too many services depend on buildings which are not the right size, in the wrong places, and are costly to run.
The NHS faces a number of significant financial pressures.
What are the priorities in the coming year?
City: Fighting heart and lung disease; improving mental health services and improving the quality of care for older people are priorities.
East Leics: The priorities are enhancing quality of life for people with long-term conditions, improving the quality of care at GP surgeries and providing more care closer to home.
We are working to help bridge the gap between the healthier and less healthy in our area.
West Leics: We will be looking to continuously improve the quality of primary medical care and tackle major causes of premature death. Priorities include providing care closer to home and timely and appropriate access to services to allow discharged patients to recover.
What difference can patients expect to see once the CCGs take over?
City: Starting with heart disease and lung disease, we will be working with clinicians and others to see if these services can be provided in a better way, such as in a community setting, so as to be easier and more convenient for patients.
East Leics: GPs are ideally placed to see where and how the system needs improving.
The new system sees commissioning decisions based on greater levels of clinical experience, expertise and frontline knowledge of patients' needs.
West Leics: We are already making better use of our planned care and prescribing budgets. We have also put in plans to improve urgent care in Loughborough. We have led a project with our two neighbouring CCGs to develop a system to better predict the health needs of patients with long-term conditions.
