I can hardly believe it’s been a year since our last Annual General Meeting (AGM) when we held our first – and very successful – Eastern Cheshire Health Fair.

This year our AGM will be held on Wednesday, September 28, at Macclesfield Town Hall, immediately before our regular Governing Body meeting.

While we won’t be holding a formal fair this year, our AGM is still a great opportunity for Eastern Cheshire residents to find out how the local health economy works and learn more about the CCG’s key areas of work.

There will also be a question-and-answer session, where members of the public will get the opportunity to directly communicate with our Governing Body.

I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice that the NHS is facing tough financial challenges both nationally and locally – but we are as committed as ever to providing safe and high-quality services for our population, as well as continuing to improve the services we commission.

For instance, the tendering process for our new Primary Mental Health Service has just closed, meaning we will soon appoint a provider/s of a new wellbeing wraparound service to complement a range of talking therapies for people with mild to moderate stress, anxiety or depression.

The model we’ve developed, following extensive research, takes an innovative approach to providing care for people with a range of mental health problems.

The wraparound hub will be particularly beneficial as it will help people tackle the issues that might be the root cause of their mental health challenges and will be open to everyone, regardless of whether they meet the thresholds for talking therapies.

Furthermore, the implementation of our new-look acute stroke service begins next month, which guarantees all Eastern Cheshire patients receive specialist care within the first four hours of a stroke, when the prospects of a full recovery are greatly improved by timely, expert treatment.

This is because we ensure our patients are taken straight to our three most local centres of excellence: Stepping Hill, Royal Stoke and Salford Royal Hospitals, and then return to the community for rehabilitation.

For information about the AGM, or any services I’ve mentioned, email kate.banks1@nhs.net or call 01625 663824.