YOU may have read or heard about proposed changes to community health services in Devon and be wondering why these proposals are being considered. As both GPs and three of the people responsible for making decisions on the healthcare services commissioned for local people, we thought it would be helpful if I let you know why we are proposing the changes. Advances in medicine, an increasing elderly population and the need to ensure resources are used as efficiently and effectively as possible mean that we have to make changes to our community health services. Although community services have changed over time, they have not changed at the pace of advances in healthcare. People no longer need to remain in hospital for as long as they used to. Once a patient needed to stay in an acute hospital for weeks after surgery but today they can be well enough to return home in a matter of days or even hours. We also know that by far the majority of people want to get back to their homes. But they often need support to fully recuperate. Our challenge is to make sure we have a healthcare system that meets the needs of our population both today and in the future. That means we need to make some changes to community health services. We need to get the balance right. We still need to ensure those who clinically need a bed in a community hospital are able to access one and we need to make sure there are more resources so that people can be cared for at home. We have been engaging with local people and GPs to look at how best we can meet these needs and the proposals we launched on 17 September at our AGM aim to do this. They were developed having listened to local people to find out what services they would like to see. We believe the proposals for community healthcare will better meet the needs of local people both now and in the future. We know that some patients who are currently in a community hospital could be better cared for in their own homes with the right healthcare support. And we want to make sure they can be safely cared for at home where we know that for many people their recuperation will be quicker. Under the proposals we will not decrease beds until we know the community services are in place to support people safely. Nothing is set in stone and we want as many people as possible to let us know what they think about the proposals and to do this we have set up a programme of sessions where they can find out more and feedback to us. A full list is on our website http://www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk">www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk and will also be in local newspapers. If you can't attend one of these you can still write to us at Eastern Locality, NEW Devon CCG, Newcourt House, Old Rydon Lane, Exeter or email us at [email protected]">[email protected] There is no immediate hurry as the involvement and consultation period goes on until December 12, 2014. Dr John Womersley, Chair of Northern Locality of NEW Devon CCG Dr David Jenner, Chair of Eastern Locality of NEW Devon CCG Dr Paul Hardy, Chair of Western Locality of NEW Devon CCG