Families and the clinicians who look after their care want the very best for the children of North East Lincolnshire.

Traditionally services have been planned “for” our community but the CCG has the opportunity to commission and shape services with the people who use them at the very core, services that support people to help themselves.

The CCG wants to achieve high quality, sustainable and joined-up services that focus on the wider needs of women and children, more than just at those times when medical help is needed.

To do this we aim to make sure children are only admitted to hospital when they really need to be by re-shaping paediatric support in A & E and the wider community and making better use of existing services such as paediatric diabetes services. The CCG is also helping children get the best start in life by promoting breastfeeding and early access to a midwife and aims to better uptake of immunisation and improve mum and child nutrition.

The main point of contact for Women & Children's services is  Michelle Barnard (pictured right) To get in touch with Michelle, click on her photograph and an email will open up or call her on  Women's 0300 3000 793.

Q & A with Dr Marcia Pathak, Clinical Lead for Women's and Children's Services for the CCG

Dr Marcia Pathak is a GP Partner at Raj Medical Centre, Laceby Road, Grimsby; As well as a full time GP partner, Dr Pathak is also the Lead GP for Safeguarding and the Clinical Lead for Women’s and Children’s services for the Care Trust Plus (CTP) / Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) throughout North East Lincolnshire.

What motivated you to become a Clinical Lead, and what’s involved?

I am a mum of three young children, I live and work locally and I’m very passionate about making sure that local services for women and children in North East Lincolnshire provide excellent, high quality care.

I am a GP Partner in our practice which is adjacent to the Nunsthorpe Estate, my main responsibility rests with the patients I see on a daily basis,  however as Lead for Safeguarding and Clinical Lead for Women and Children I also provide advice on safeguarding issues and the clinical steer for Women and Children across the CTP / CCG, this involves a number of sessions a week working across Health and the Local Authority.

Because of my personal and professional commitment to Women’s and Children’s services I want to be able to make a difference and being the Clinical Lead means that I can really influence change and shape our local services. I was already the Lead GP for safeguarding and I definitely think that the two roles complement each other.

As Women’s and Children’s Lead what do you see as the priorities?

Locally, we have very high levels of deprivation, poverty, unemployment and generally poorer health outcomes than other areas; Because of this a child’s journey in North East Lincolnshire is significantly different to children in other areas – for example we have high rates of smoking in pregnancy, low breast feeding rates, poor vaccination/immunisation uptake and higher childhood obesity rates – our children do not receive the best of starts and the problems they experience  in childhood do not dissipate over time – they stay with them into adolescence and adulthood.

In view of this we are committed to reducing inequalities so that children in North East Lincolnshire have the same opportunities as those in more affluent areas.

To achieve this some of our priorities for 2012 /13 are:

• Improving services in the community and hospital so that women and children receive the right care, in the right place and only go to A&E in an emergency.
• Improving the uptake of Childhood immunisations.
• Improving the uptake of seasonal flu vaccinations for pregnant women.
• Improving the breastfeeding rates
• Supporting the development of the Career Health Academy

What difference will this make?

We face some difficult times with the health reforms and the financial challenges – but I see this as a time where we need to focus on ‘what we can achieve together’. As Clinical Lead I work really closely with colleagues in Health, the Local Authority, Public Health and Social Enterprises – I can see that when we work together and pool our efforts and resources we will make a difference to our children’s future.