A PLEDGE has been signed by NHS and council chiefs in Surrey to move forward with a NHS devolution deal that should lead to greater accountability for health and social care spending across the county.

The agreement draws up a roadmap towards devolution, and explains how partners will work together to improve the health outcomes of residents living in the “Surrey Heartlands”.

The heartlands comprise Guildford and Waverley, North West Surrey and Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

Shadow working arrangements will be put in place this year, before the deal comes into effect from April 2018, as part of the agreement signed by NHS England and NHS Improvement, Guildford and Waverley Clinical Commissioning Group CCG, North West Surrey CCG, Surrey Downs CCG and Surrey County Council.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “Surrey Heartlands is embarking on a ground-breaking plan to integrate healthcare which will mean better joined up services in place of what has often been a fragmented system that passes people from pillar to post,”

Responding to the move, Kate Scribbins, chief executive officer of Healthwatch Surrey, said: “Local leaders in health and social care have told us that devolution is a crucial vehicle to deliver the scale and pace of change they want to make, enabling them to accelerate integration and increase local decision making.

“As the watchdog for health and social care in Surrey, our interest lies in how these developments improve outcomes and experiences for people.

The public watchdog chief added: “Making decisions closer to people, and being able to tailor priorities and spending to the needs of local communities, and reduce health inequalities, sounds like a positive step.

“We’ll continue to scrutinise, contribute to and challenge local decision making in order to make this a reality which delivers better services for local people.

“With more local decision making comes additional responsibility and accountability, and an increased need to fully engage local people in discussions about the future of services.

“We will continue to promote opportunities for people to get involved and hold to account decision makers.

“Healthwatch Surrey have been busy putting people at the heart of decision making about service changes and we would encourage people to get in touch with us should they wish to join us and get involved.”

Surrey County Council chief executive David McNulty said:“This is a really significant step towards bringing together health and social care in our county and giving people better, more efficient services. I’m sure that it will give fresh impetus to our efforts to work as one team to make devolution a reality for the benefit of local residents.”

• Matthew Tait, who was interim chief officer for three CCGs in Berkshire, has been appointed Surrey Heartlands’ joint accountable officer.

The new arrangement will see closer working across the three CCGs but they will remain separate legal entities and will continue to have their own governing body and clinical chair.

Mr Tait (pictured) said: “Having previously worked across the three CCGs in East Berkshire, I understand the benefits of having shared leadership across organisations and the many opportunities this way of working brings.

“I have already heard about some of the good work happening to improve care across Surrey Heartlands and I look forward to being part of this work as it moves forward.”