SOUTHWARK PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES
Primary Health Services are the first point of contact between private citizens and the National Health Service and they are all managed by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). Typically, the primary services provided by PCTs are general practices (GPs), dentists, opticians and Pharmacies.
All Primary Health Services are agreed nationally and administered locally by PCTs. Practice Based Commissioning (PBC) was first introduced in 2004 by the Department of Health as a first effort in recognising the centrality of patient choice in health services provision and the consequent lead role of practices/localities in setting budget and results closer to the effective local needs.
From a geographical point of view there is a concentration of health services in the north of the Borough due to high population density that penalises the southern that is more residential and "leafy".
