Residents were given the chance to have their say at the NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) ‘Annual Review meets Big Chat’ event held at Maghull Town Hall.

The public event was a chance for guests to hear about the challenging times facing the NHS locally and to hear about several schemes that the CCG is thinking about changing in order to become more efficient and to save money to reinvest in services.

One of these schemes was the repeat prescription ordering pilot which will reduce medicine waste and improve patient safety. This has now launched across 19 practices in Sefton and requires people to order medicines direct through their GP rather than their pharmacy.

Residents were invited to give their views about the schemes to help shape services further as well as hearing about the CCG’s performance and achievements over the past 12 months.

Dr Andy Mimnagh, chair of the CCG, said: “There was a good turnout at the event and it was great to see people, as always, so passionate about local health services. It is a challenging time for the NHS both locally and nationally and we, like others, are aiming to ensure we save costs, where we can, whilst maintaining the quality of services.”

The CCG Big Chats are interactive and give a chance for staff to talk together with local people about its latest projects and plans, and hear what they think. The views it gains from the events inform its thinking about changes or service developments.

For more information about how you can get involved please visit: www.southseftonccg.nhs.uk/get-involved