A CONFERENCE on the future of health services in west Suffolk has been described as marking “a truly historic moment” for the NHS in the area.

Today, the new NHS West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (WSCCG) held its first ever stakeholder conference, which took place at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds.

WSCCG is a group of local doctors who will be responsible for buying and managing most of west Suffolk health services from April next year when NHS Suffolk, the primary care trust, is abolished.

At the conference almost 150 patients, patient group representatives, community and voluntary organisations, councillors, GPs and health service providers discussed the way healthcare is set to change and how patients will be at the centre of the decision-making process.

Dr Christopher Browning, chairman of WSCCG, said the conference would mark a truly historic moment for the NHS in west Suffolk.

“Never before has there been such opportunity for patients to actively participate in planning the healthcare for west Suffolk people.”

Talking at the conference, he said: “We already have ambitions. We have ambitions for patient education, we have ambitions for care of the elderly, we have ambitions for mental health and we have a number of others. We want you to add to these ambitions and to help us to build on them.”