The last year has been one in which the Council has prepared itself for change while staying on top of the local health and social care agenda. At the beginning of the year, Council agreed to look at a number of proprity areas. These included:

New Community Based Services

The Council made several visits during the year to view new services designed to provide care for people close to home and to avoid hospital admissions. Visits included the Heart Failure Service at the City Hospital and the Older Person's One Stop Assessment Clinic at the Ulster Hospital.

The Council believes that most people would like to be treated closer to home and that most people would prefer not to go into hospital unless they really need to but people need to be reassured that the services they receive in the community are as good as - if not better than - the services they would have received in hospital.

On the evidence of these two services, the Council believes patients have every reason to feel confident in such initiatives. The Council is always open to somments and feedback from patients about their experiences.

Mental Health Needs In North and West Belfast

Following on from the work of the Suicide Task Force in the last year, the Council met with several community groups whose members had been affected by suicide to find out what they thought and felt about the Health and Social Services response to theri concerns.

The Council was pleased to note that the Strategy - now published - addressed many of the things that really mattered to people - including proper traiing for front line staff, raised awareness of suicide among professionals and the general public and well planned effective partmershop between communities, volunteers and the health and social services to provide options for people in immediate need of help or someont to talk to.

The Council would wish to pay tribute to the dignity and generosity of bereaved families in sharing hteir experience to help draw attention to this serious issue and to bring the strategy into being. The Council will follow closely the implementation of the strategy over the coming year.

Over the year, the Council has met with and talked to individuals and communities throughout the Eastern area as it relies on the information and insights of people living with various conditions in challenging circumstances who need the support of an effective health and social care system. In the next year, we will continue to pursuet the issues that you raise with us. We wish to extend our grateful thanks to all of you who gave so freely of your time and personal experience to help us to make your voice heard by those responsible for planning and delivering your health and care.