THE chief executive of the new NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus has hailed its inaugural meeting as a ‘momentous occasion’.

Judith Griffin said the move, which has seen the old primary care trust form a partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to decide how to spend £300m a year on local health and social care, was an ‘opportunity to take brave steps’ to improve health and well-being and tackle inequality.

Speaking at the first Care Trust Plus board meeting at King Georges Hall yesterday, she said: “It’s about making sure we have the full range of services, that they are available to all and that they are high quality.

“We need to make sure every penny we spend has the right result and is making a difference to the people of Blackburn with Darwen.”

The Care Trust Plus is the first in the north west.

It is a commissioning organisation, meaning that its job is to identify the health and social needs of people in the borough and then plan and buy services from sources such as East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust or third party organisations.

From 2004 to 2007 Blackburn with Darwen was the 17th most deprived borough in England.

But Dominic Harrison, director of public health, said the Care Trust Plus would become more involved in areas previously not covered by the NHS, such as housing and education, to help improve the socio-economic status of the area, and in turn people’s health, giving them ‘better and longer lives’.